Katherine Takpannie

I was born in Montreal in the late 80's, and I am considered an urban Inuk. My anaana (mother) is from Apex Hill, Nunavut. As an urban Inuk, I grew up with intergenerational trauma, in poverty, around addictions, mental health crises and in and out of foster care. I left home at 13 and I never graduated high school. However, I am a very proud alumni of the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program. My life turned around completely after reclaiming my culture, and I graduated with honours, and a 3.95 GPA. The program focuses on the Nunavut Agreement and its implementation, Political Science, Research, Inuit-Government Relations, Contemporary Issues, Inuit history, and Inuktitut. Not only did I learn so much, I was able to be a cultural ambassador: sharing my Inuit culture from the Governor General's Winter Celebration to the Oslo Opera House in Norway. From the National Arts Centre to Hui Malama O Ke Kai in Oahu, I have honoured and celebrated Inuit excellence. I want to achieve a worthwhile career creating art that’s also purposeful, encaptivating and shares who I am. Photography has been my way to contribute meaningful art to our Canadian society. I believe that teaching about my Inuit culture will help people understand our past and present. As well as giving resources to help shape the future with Indigenous people in Canada. 

Next, I participated in Signal: 2019 Additions to the City of Ottawa Art Collection. Followed by 'They Forgot That We Were Seeds', an exhibit that uses food ways to re-imagine the history of Canada as a settler-colonial state, placing Black and Indigenous women at the centre of an effort to construct a counter-archive at Carleton University which had been curated by Kosisochukwu Nnebe. As well as, Indspire x SAW Nordic Lab’s exhibition at the National Arts Centre.

During the beginning of COVID-19, the City of Ottawa's Public Art Program launched Microcosm and I had shared portraits of BIPOC that I respect and admire, to been included within ward 7 at the Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre. I wanted to showcase strong, beautiful, multinational individuals as a reminder that we are all a product of complex histories and storied pasts. 

Next came the Corridor 45|75 exhibit, Napaaqtulik (Forest) at the Rideau Station, O-Train Line 1 featuring a walkthrough of Vanier’s Richelieu Park, one of Ottawa’s hidden woodlands. Dark was the forest on this day, offering just glimpses of shimmering light that playfully danced through large leaves. As well as, She Has Something to Say, at Olga Korper Gallery which featured, "All Eyes on Mi'Kma'Ki'' focused on supporting the Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia. I captured Autumn Peltier, an Anishinaabe Indigenous clean water advocate and Chief Water Protector for the Anishinabek Nation and Ma-Myriah, an Inuk and Mi'Kma'Ki artist and mother. 

From there, the National Gallery of Canada acquired the Our Women and Girls are Sacred (2016–18) series, which is meant to honour, bring attention to and mourn the many missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The National Gallery added it to the exhibition, 'Movement: Expressive Bodies in Art.' in 2022-2023. These photographs were taken in 2016, when the celebrated Sobey award-winning Inuk artist Annie Pootoogook passed away, and the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death caused the Ottawa Inuit community, including myself, to publicly mourn. The red smoke was a way of honouring the presence and memory of the lives lost. It represents the spirits of these women – including Pootoogook – and is a way of rendering them visible. The camera captures the memory made visible and, for a fleeting moment, tangible. 

Both the University of Toronto Art Gallery and the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery exhibited pieces from the 2021 Sedna Series. From Greenland to Alaska, according to Inuit legend, Sedna is the Goddess of the Sea, the mother of all marine mammals. This series was created from the question, “What will Sedna do when she hears the seismic testing?" exploring the epistemology of Inuit societal values alongside the violent disruption of our Inuit homelands through resource extraction. Next, Fogo Island Arts held and exhibition titled, 'Meltwater' weaves a route northward from Fogo Island, through the Labrador Sea, across the Arctic Ocean, and into the Pacific Ocean, considering what role this melting ice sheet plays in coastal communities that are far away, but nonetheless, interconnected. While the Minneapolis Institute of Art disaplayed 'Our Women and Girls are Sacred in the exhibition,  'In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now'. 

And now, another very exciting and new exhibition in 2023, for the first time in its history, the storied Simcoe Hall at the University of Toronto is hosting a long-term installation of contemporary photography from the university’s permanent collection foregrounding some of today’s most respected Indigenous artists from across Canada, spanning several generations. Traditionally, Simcoe Hall displays portraits of leaders who shaped the University of Toronto’s development over nearly two centuries but in a significant gesture of acknowledging the importance of making space for Indigenous voices and presence, these portraits have been moved aside to make way for works of art that honour Indigenous continuity and resilience in confronting the colonial occupation of the land. In these artists’ hands, the camera becomes a world-making instrument, linking narratives across time and place, and offering new points of engagement and connection.