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People & Culture
The latest Heritage Minute from Historica Canada profiles Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak and is the first to be produced in three different languages
For the first time in the 25-year history of Heritage Minutes, the long-running and much-loved Canadian video series has released a new mini-movie in three languages: English, French and Inuktitut.
The newest Minute — the 85th in the collection — introduces Canadians to the Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak, who earned international acclaim in the mid-20th century for her distinct prints and drawings. The film follows Ashevak from her early life in the Northwest Territories, where she learned traditional crafts from her grandmother, to her adulthood and eventual artistic career in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, where she moved so her children could attend school.
The Minute was filmed in Cape Dorset and most of the cast is comprised of Ashevak’s living descendants, with one exception: the young Kenojuak is portrayed by Miali Buscemi, an Inuk actress from Iqaluit.
The film also uses animation to bring some of Ashevak’s most famous designs to life against the landscape that inspired them.
Watch the film in English and Inuktitut below:
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