Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to salute my constituent Germaine Arnaktauyok on the occasion of her national recognition with the highly prestigious Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. Germaine Arnaktauyok is one of only eight recipients of the 2021 award organized by the Canada Council for the Arts to celebrate the exceptional careers of Canadian artists. As the Governor General's award citation says, "Germaine Arnaktauyok's contribution to Canadian art is significant. She has been a serious artist for over 60 years and has continued to explore and develop artistically and professionally. She has charted her own course and created her own unique visual language, and her lifelong interest in her own unique Inuit culture has been an inspiration to many younger artists."
Born in the Igloolik area in the 1940s, Ms. Arnaktauyok began life drawing from her visionary world whenever materials became available. She studied fine arts at the University of Manitoba, commercial art and fine craft at Algonquin College, as well as print-making at Arctic College in Nunavut.
In her work, Ms. Arnaktauyok focuses primarily on Inuit myths, stories, and feminist narratives centred on birth and motherhood. She has illustrated and written several books, including illustrating the recently published "Takannaaluk" released in spring 2018. Her silk screen design, "The Drummer," was chosen by the Royal Canadian Mint for the two-dollar coin to mark the birth of Nunavut in 1999. Her professional career has included the production of lithographs, etchings, and serigraphs that illustrate Inuit myths and traditional ways of life. Her artwork is held in a variety of museums, including the National Gallery of Canada and the British Museum.
Please join me in saluting the life and work of Germaine Arnaktauyok and her recent distinction through this prestigious national award. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause