Elisapee Ishulutaq CM (Inuktitut: ᐃᓕᓴᐱ ᐃᓱᓗᑕᖅ, 1925 – 9 December 2018) was a self-taught Inuk artist, specialising in drawing and printmaking.
[7] In 2014, Ishulutaq was awarded the Order of Canada "for her contributions to the cultural and economic health of her community as a role model and mentor".
[8] In the 1930s Ishulutaq lived off the land of Baffin Island near Cumberland Sound with her family, including her mother Avurnirq, father Arnaqua, sister Malaya, and adopted brother Silassie Arnaquq.
Elisapee Ishulutaq started her artistic career relatively late in life, after she moved to Pangnirtung at the age of forty-five.
[6] For her drawings that have been translated into prints, Ishulutaq collaborated on many occasions with artist Paul Machnik, the founder of PM Studios in Montreal.
"[7]Ishulutaq believed that art can help bridge the gap between elders and the younger generation, using visual motifs to pass along knowledge that would otherwise have been lost.
[7] Ishulutaq remained an active participant in the Pangnirtung workshop until her death, continuing to explore new styles of art and new media.
[19] During the establishment of the Tapestry Studio in Pangnirtung in the early 1970s, Ishulutaq and Malaya Akulukjuk were the workshop's sole illustrators.
[1] Ishulutaq's drawings were included in the first exhibition of Pagnirtung tapestries, In the Beginning, which was held in 1972 at the Canadian Guild of Crafts in Montreal.
In 2009, Ishulutaq created the work Nunagah (My Home Place) as part of the 2012 Canadian Biennial with the National Gallery of Canada.
This mural features scenes of the artist's everyday life and was commissioned by curator Darlene Coward Wight, who said this of Ishulutaq's work:"Her use of multiple perspectives, employing frontal, profile, and bird’s eye view in the same image is also characteristic, and these unexpected shifts add interests and liveliness to her detailed scenes.
[20] This piece was created in collaboration with the students of the local school as well as the artists Paul Machnik and his daughter Maica Armata-Machnik.
The drawings depicted a scene from Pangnirtung and a streetscape of condominiums in Vancouver from a trip Ishulutaq took to British Columbia for an exhibition.