St. Olaf College

Mayoreak or Mayureak Ashoona

Contemporary
Canada
b. b. 1946
View objects by this artist.

Mayoreak Ashoona was born in 1946 in Saturituk, South Baffin, Canada. Mayoreak was the daughter of a well-known graphic artist, Sheouak Parr. Mayoreak was raised traditionally on the land, and eventually became the partner of a carved named Qaqaq Ashoona. In the early 1960s Mayoreak began drawing and carving, although the graphic art she was known for would not be shown until later.
After Qaqaq died in 1996, Mayoreak moved away from the outcamp and back to Cape Dorset, where she began to create more large scale projects in a style more her own. Her first work was published in 1978, and since then she has been represented in the Annual Print Collections from Cape Dorset every year. She has traveled and contributed to exhibitions internationally. In 2003, she was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy. Currently, Mayoreak lives in Cape Dorset after spending a handful of years in a senior citizen’s residence in Iqaluit, although she is in too poor health to continue drawing or carving.

Madison Duran ‘20
April 2019

Sources:
“Mayoreak Ashoona.” DORSET FINE ARTS, www.dorsetfinearts.com/mayoreak-ashoona.
“Mayoreak (Mayureak) Ashoona (1946- ), Inuit Artist Biography and Portfolio.” Spirit Wrestler
Gallery, www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php?artists_id=76.