A Conversation with Isuma

Co-presented by the Art Museum at the University of Toronto and Toronto Biennial of Art

Inuit independent production company Isuma discusses their collaborative strategies on the occasion of Qaggiq: Gathering Place, a major exhibition of their film and expanded media works at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto. The conversation will include Norman Cohn, Zacharias Kunuk, Apayata Kotierk, Samuel Cohn-Cousineau, and asinnajaq.

Following the talk, the gallery will be open to view the exhibition, with an opening reception from 6-8pm. Qaggiq: Gathering Place brings together a selection of video works by the internationally renowned Isuma artists’ collective.

Officially founded in 1990 by Zacharias Kunuk, Paul Apak Angilirq, Pauloosie Qulitalik, and Norman Cohn in Igloolik, Nunavut, this first ever Inuit production company produces video from an Inuit point of view, which includes language, story telling, and ways of thinking. Their films are imbued with the voices of elders and young Inuit, with mythology, memories and nightmares, and above all with oral histories of times before contact and the trauma of encounter that includes Christian conversion and forced relocation. Above all, their activist works are part of the ongoing, ever present struggle to sustain Inuit futures in the massive transformation of the North through resource extraction projects and climate change.

Additional information at https://artmuseum.utoronto.ca/exhibition/qaggiq-gathering-place/

For up-to-date information on related Art Museum at the University of Toronto programs, please visit torontobiennial.org and artmuseum.utoronto.ca

If you require an accommodation or assistance please contact artmuseum@utoronto.ca

Registration for the Conversation with Isuma is required. The event is free.

No registration required for the Opening Reception following the Panel Discussion.

Please note: The wheelchair access to the University of Toronto Art Centre is temporarily closed due to University College Building Revitalization construction. If you plan to visit the University of Toronto Art Centre and need accessibility assistance, please contact Art Museum Staff at artmuseum@utoronto.ca to arrange an escort through the construction zone, or for any accessibility requests. The Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Hart House is wheelchair accessible.

Image: Isuma, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, 2006. © Isuma Distribution International. Courtesy of ISUMA and Vtape.