Full Name:Germaine Arnaktauyok
Occupation / Title:Animator, Artist, Background Artist, Puppeteer, Writer
Date of birth:1946
Birthplace:Nunavut, Canada
Associated studios:National Film Board of Canada
Indian Film Crew
Biography
Germaine Arnaktauyok is an Inuit visual artist, printmaker, and author. Her work explores Inuit folklore and the impacts of colonialism on Indigenous peoples in Northern Canada. (Geddes, 2015)
Family and early life
Arnaktauyok was born on the Melville Peninsula in Nunavut. In her childhood, Arnaktauyok’s family lived off the land, hunting seals and caribou. When she was nine, she was sent to a residential school in the Chesterfield Inlet, where she would spend most of the year for the remainder of her childhood. (Geddes, 2015) As a young child, Arnaktauyok developed a passion for visual arts and drawing which would follow her throughout her life. (Braden, 2021)
Career outline
After leaving school, Arnaktauyok had a brief stint working for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in Ottawa, but in 1968 she left the job to move back to Nunavut. In Iqaluit, NU, she worked at the Frobisher Bay Arts and Crafts Center as an artist and designer. She worked on large projects, designing the Team Canada parka’s for the 1972 Sapporo Olympics, as well as a poster series for the Israeli airline El Al. (Braden, 2021)
In the early 1970s, Arnaktauyok worked on two of the “Eskimo Legends” shorts produced by the National Film Board of Canada: The Owl and The Lemming (1971) and The Owl and The Raven (1973). She designed the puppets used in the films and assisted the artist Alootook Ipellie with designing the films’ backgrounds. (UQAM)
In 1999, Arnaktauyok’s work “The Drum Dancer” was featured on a commemorative $2 coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint in celebration of the founding of Nunavut. (Williams, 2024)
Throughout her life Arnaktauyok’s work has continued to be featured in museums and galleries across Canada. (IAQ) She has also illustrated multiple children’s books including The Harpoon and The Hunter (1970), Those That Cause Fear (2016), and Tuniit (2017). (UQAM)
In 2015, Arnaktauyok published an autobiography, My Name is Arnaktauyok: The Life and Art of Germaine Arnaktauyok, which details her childhood, time in the residential school system, and career as an artist. (CBC, 2021)
Personal style
Arnaktauyok has used a variety of different mediums throughout her career: paint, drawings with a pencil, printmaking, and textiles. Her work is known for its use of multitude of fine and coiled lines. (IAQ)
In her work Arnaktauyok explores themes of motherhood and femininity, as well as the ongoing impacts of colonization on the Inuit community. Many of her works feature icons and stories from Inuit folklore. (IAQ)
Honors and awards
In 2021, Arnaktauyok was a recipient of the Governor General’s award in Visual Media and Arts. (CBC, 2021)
Filmography
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References:
“Arnaktauyok, Germaine” UQAM Inuit Literature Insitute, https://inuit.uqam.ca/en/person/arnaktauyok-germaineAccessed 20 Aug. 2026.
Braden, Bill “It Was There All The Time” Up Here Publishing, Nov 2021 https://uphere.ca/articles/it-was-there-all-time Accessed 19 Aug. 2026.
Geddes, John “Her Name is Arnaktauyok: A Q&A with a Leading Inuit Artist” MacLeans, Jun.1, 2015 https://macleans.ca/culture/arts/her-name-is-arnaktauyok-a-qa-with-a-leading-inuit-artist/ Accessed 19 Aug. 2026.
“Inuk Artist Recives Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts” CBC, Feb. 23 2021 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/germaine-arnaktauyok-governor-general-artist-nunavut-yellowknife-1.5924410 Accessed 20 Aug. 2026.
“Artist Profile- Germaine Arnaktauyok” IAQ, https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/profiles/artist/Germaine-Arnaktauyok Accessed 20 Aug. 2026.
Williams, Kiersten “Looking Back at Coin and Stamp Commemorations of Nunavut” Nunatsiaq News, Mar. 29 2024 https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/looking-back-at-coin-and-stamp-commemorations-of-nunavut/ Accessed 20 Aug. 2026.