Legacy Artwork By Zinour

Sheojuk Etidlooie (1932 - 1999)

Like many of the Elders of Cape Dorset, Baffin Island, Sheojuk was born on the land in an outpost camp.  Known internationally for her "primitive" drawing style, she did not put her energy into art until she was 60 years old.  It was only then that she discovered she had quite a good "hand" and a very rich imagination - two attributes that contributed to her meteoric rise in the Inuit art world.  Sheojuk started drawing in earnest in 1992.  In 1994, one of her images was selected for inclusion in the Cape Dorset Annual Print Release; the edition sold out within days of its release, and she was included in each subsequent annual collection until 1999. Most of Sheojuk's images are simple - a teapot, a raven dancing or a pair of birds.

We got to know Sheojuk during our time living in Cape Dorset; one day she simply arrived on our doorstep to check out "this Ulassa artist" (Inuktitut for "Russian") after which she would simply drop in from time to time for tea and a gesture filled chat as there no shared common language.  We chose her as one of the subjects for the Elder series because of her latent art talent that was largely unheralded by her artistic peers (in fact, they were immensely jealous).

Sheojuk died suddenly in the spring of 1999 after a short and remarkable art career.