Profile: Jason Sikoak
Photo By Tom McLeod
Jason Sikoak is an Inuk originally from Rigolet, Nunatsiavut in Labrador. Now in their final year as an undergraduate student at Concordia University studying studio arts and art history, Jason is embracing their life as an artist. Since starting at Concordia, Jason has exhibited their work in multiple exhibitions, including Braiding Our Stories (2019) at the VAV Gallery, Nunatsiavut Storytelling: Liminal Spaces (2019) in the Art History Vitrine at Concordia University as part of the Waterways series of exhibitions, and Nunatsiavut, Our Beautiful Land (2019), which opened at La Guilde in Montreal as part of the iNuit Blanche Gallery Crawl.
Before coming to Concordia, Jason was living in Nova Scotia and trying to make ends meet as an artist. Jason has been making art for as long as they can remember, first learning to carve from their uncle Jack Mugford when they were a child, and throughout the rest of their life worked on drawing and sculpture, but they had not considered working in the arts full time a possibility. While selling their art online, Jason was invited by Dr. Heather Igloliorte to submit a piece to SakKijâjuk: Art and Craft from Nunatsiavut (2016, touring until 2020). Their pen and ink drawing Sacrilege (2015) was accepted to the exhibition, has subsequently been shown all across Canada, and is now in the permanent collection of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery.
Jason Sikoak and Jesse Tungilik installing Labrador Tent (2019) and Feeding My Family (2019) for Memory Keepers I at Concorida’s 4th Space, Montreal QC. October 2019. Photo by Danielle Aimée Miles.
Jason learned the value of creativity and innovation from their dad and uncle at an early age. “If we don’t have something in the North, we can’t just go to the hardware store or the art store; we have to make it.” Which is exactly what Jason did after participating in a printmaking workshop organized by Dr. Heather Igloliorte and Dr. Julie Nagam in St. John’s, Newfoundland: they built themself a printing press using a car jack and some scrap lumber. This Inuit ingenuity is something Jason hopes to share with people through their work.
Sacrilege (2015), Pen and ink on paper, 124.5 x 165.1 cm, The Rooms, Newfoundland. Photo by Ned Pratt.
Her... (2017), Pen and ink on archive quality 140 lb. cold pressed water colour paper. Photo courtesy of Jason Sikoak.
Through Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project, Jason had the opportunity to work with graphic designer Sébastien Aubin (Opaskwayak Cree Nation of Manitoba) since the spring of 2019 on a variety of projects, including designing the Inuit Futures logo. Jason says, “I’ve learned so much just outside of the classroom mentoring with [Sébastien].” The mentorship allowed Jason to gain practical hands on experience in a new field, one that they are thinking of continuing for future work in graphic design.
Jason is looking forward to their future and life after university. Their dream is to open a working studio with a residency program for up and coming Inuit artists from across Canada, where they can develop a portfolio, build a CV, create a biography, and even produce their first body of work. The idea is to help budding artists to enter the art world with skills and resources that showcase their work. Jason is grateful for the opportunities they’ve had through The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project, and is looking to pay it forward. “Heather is helping me and I, in turn, want to help other people once I’m through the program.”