Joanassie
Manning
Inuit
Caribou
7 1/2"
H x 11" W
Born: June 6, 1967
E7-1949 (Joanassie; Manumikalak; Kooyoo)
Resides: Cape Dorset
Joanasie was born in Cape
Dorset and has lived there all his life. His mother, Annie Manning,
has worked (in the north and also in the south) as a translator
for English and Inuktitut. She is also well versed in the art
of sewing and dollmaking.
Joanasie's grandfather Ipeelie
Oshuitok of Cape Dorset is a well known carver. Joanasie is poised
to become one of greatest Inuit artists of this generation.
Joanasie began carving in
1987. Although he does not carve often, his sculptures are skillful,
with much attention to detail (Feheley Fine Arts).
Cape Dorset is located north
of Hudson Bay on the southwest tip of Baffin Island, well above
the treeline and just south of the Arctic Circle.
The Inuit inhabitants have
always called the area Kinngait (pronounced king-ite), meaning
"the place of hills," but it was named Cape Dorset
in 1631 by the British explorer Captain Luke Foxe, who mapped
the region during his unsuccessful search for the Northwest Passage;
he named it in honour of the Earl of Dorset, who had sponsored
the expedition.
Today, Cape Dorset is a modern
community of nearly fourteen hundred inhabitants in the newly
created Canadian territory of Nunavut.
