Kakulu Saggiaktok

“Because I am not very old, I don’t usually draw the old ways but in my mind I would like to. Because I am not very old I don’t really remember. I was born on the ship, the Nascopie, when my parents were travelling around Baffin Island. I don’t remember much about those early years but I have one memory of being taken by canoe from the ship to the land by a white man.”

- Kakulu Saggiatok Cape Dorset Print Catalogue, 1978.


Kakulu was born in 1940 on the Hudson’s Bay Company’s supply ship, “Nascopie” en route from Clyde River to Pangnirtung. At that time, her parents and older brother were members of a small group of Inuit who travelled from south Baffin Island to trap and hunt furs in the northern regions of the Island.

Kakulu began to draw in the early 1960’s when the newly established co-operative introduced its graphic arts project. Her style has evolved considerably over the years. Kakulu’s mother was Ikayukta, a well-known graphic artist (now deceased). Her older brother was Qavaroak Tunnillie, a well-known and prolific sculptor (now deceased). She is married to Saggiaktok, who for many years was a printmaker in the stonecut studio. He would frequently proof and edit those images by Kakulu which had been chosen for stonecut prints. They live in Cape Dorset with their four children. She continues to develop her own unique style of expression, and participates in workshops offered by the Kinngait Studios.

Also known as Sagiatuk, Qaquluk, Kakoolook, Kakulook.

Born on February 14, 1940 in Hudson Bay supply ship "Nacopsie". Died on 2020. Nationality is Inuit

Exhibitions

2017 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2014 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2013 Animal Power: Images in Contemporary Inuit Art, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2011 Dorset Large: Large Scale drawings from the Kinngait Studios, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON (illustrated catalogue)
2011 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2009-2010 Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset Celebrates 50 Years of Printmaking, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON (illustrated catalogue)
2009 Mixed Media from Cape Dorset, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2008 Breaking Ground: New Oil Stick Drawings from Cape Dorset, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
2007 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2006 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2005 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2003 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2002 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2001 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
2000 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1997 Art by Women: An investigation of Inuit Sculpture and Graphics, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1997 Inuit and the Sea, Canuit, Canadian Eskimo Art, Eindhoven, Netherlands
1997 Graphite and Stone, Sculpture and Drawing: Baffin Artists in two mediums, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, BC (illustrated catalogue)
1997 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1996 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1996-1997 Beelden uit Arctica Canuit, Canadian Eskimo Art, Venray, Netherlands
1995 Keeping Our Stories Alive: An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts from the Dene and Inuit of Canada Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, NM (illustrated catalogue)
1994-1995 Cape Dorset Revisited, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON (illustrated catalogue)
1995 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1994 Cape Dorset Revisited – a collection of previously unreleased prints, exhibited at several commercial galleries, organized by West Baffin Eskimo Co-op, Cape Dorset, NT
1994 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1992 Women of the North: An Exhibition of art by Inuit Women of the Canadian Arctic, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC (illustrated catalogue)
1991-1992 In Cape Dorset We Do It This Way: Three Decades of Inuit Printmaking, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON (illustrated catalogue)
1991 Inuit Music in Art: Singing and Dancing and Playing, Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, ON
1991 Art Inuit: Autour de la Collection de Cape Dorset 1991, Presented by l’Iglou Art Esquimau, Douai At Le Colombier Ville D’Avray, France
1989 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1987 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1986 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1984 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1983 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1982 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1981 Eskimo Games: Graphics and Sculpture/Giuochi Eschimesi: grafiche e sculpture, National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome, Italy (illustrated catalogue)
1979 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1978 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1977 The Contemporary Eskimo Prints and Sculpture, Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, TX (illustrated catalogue)
1977 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1976 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1975 – 1979 We Lived by Animals, Nous Vivions des Animaux, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, in cooperation with the Department of External Affairs, Ottawa, ON (tour) (illustrated catalogue)
1974 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1973 Sculpture Inuit: 25 Years After, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal, PQ
1971 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1970 Graphic Art by Eskimos of Canada: First Collection, Cultural Affairs Division, Department of External Affairs, Ottawa, ON (tour) (illustrated catalogue)
1970 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)
1967 4th National Burnaby Print Show, Burnaby Art Society, Burnaby, BC
1966 Cape Dorset Graphics (annual collection) (illustrated catalogue)