Peter Pitseolak in his studio.
Source
Credit: Charles Gimpel/LAC
Documents in the LAC Collection that trace his life and times.
Born: November 1902, on Nottingham Island, Northwest Territories (present-day Nunavut)
Died: September 30, 1973, at
Cape Dorset (Kinngait) Northwest Territories (present-day Nunavut)
Father: Inukjuarjuk (born circa 1849 at Fort Chimo (Kuujjuaq), Quebec; died 1915 at Etidliajuk (Northwest Territories)
Mother: Kooyoo (died 1928)
Wives: Annie (died 1939) and
Aggeok (born 1906; died 1977)
Inuit historian, camp leader, artist, writer and photographer, Peter Pitseolak's work around the community of Cape Dorset, on the southwest coast of Baffin Island, dates from the 1940s. A rich tradition of creativity and artistic ability has emerged from Nunavut and particularly Cape Dorset. Inspired by the region’s traditional Inuit culture, legends and the Arctic environment, the area’s artists have drawn unparalleled inspiration and distinct themes from their heritage and surroundings.
Pitseolak spent much of his life in traditional camps in an area called Seekooseelak on the southwest coast of Baffin Island, documenting elements of traditional culture in his drawings, paintings, sound recordings and photographs.
As a boy, Pitseolak met photographer Robert J. Flaherty. Flaherty is best known for his 1922 film
Nanook of the North.
Chronology
1922
Peter Pitseolak and his brothers, Pootoogook and Eetoolook, begin to earn a wage. Their work includes building houses, and moving gravel outside the newly constructed homes. The brothers hunt walrus and silver fox and process the skins for the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Later, as a respected hunter, Pitseolak becomes the “boss” of a team of hunters.
1923
1939
1940’s
Pitseolak and his team of hunters work for the Baffin Trading Company supplying it with sealskins, polar bear skins and walrus hides since the Hudson's Bay Company will only take
fox pelts.
1941
He begins to live with
Aggeok, his collaborator. Born in Omanikjuak camp (Nunavut), Aggeok will later become his second wife.
1942
Pitseolak acquires his first camera from a Roman Catholic missionary.
Pitseolak develops his first photographs in an igloo.
1945
Pitseolak falls ill with tuberculosis, which plagues him throughout the 1950s.
Pitseolak’s work coincides with a period of immense
social upheaval (
3) for the Inuit. The majority of Inuit are moved from seasonal hunting camps to permanent settlements. Cape Dorset is one of these settlements.
1946
He establishes a camp at Keatuk on Baffin Island and becomes the leader or “camp boss” of ten families. Both his father, Inukjuarjuk, and grandfather, Etidluie, had been leaders in their time.
1958
1961
He leaves his camp at Keatuk and returns to the settlement at Cape Dorset.
His Legacy
Peter Pitseolak was concerned that much of the
traditional knowledge(
4) would be forgotten. He used writing, sketching and photography to record a vanishing way of life by documenting Inuit customs,
hunting techniques, stories and myths.
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