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Niap sees collaboration with photographer Robert Fréchette as an act of reconciliation

When Montréal-based Inuit artist Niap[1] first saw Robert Fréchette’s photographs seven or nine years ago, she knew she would one day want to do something with them. Many of the photographs pictured the treeless terrain in Kuujjuaq, the community where Niap was born and raised. At the time, Niap was working at the Avataq Cultural Institute. Fréchette, a Southerner with years of experience travelling to Nunavik, Inuit land in Northern Quebec, worked at the Institute as its president. In the years since, Niap has emerged as a dynamic new voice in contemporary art, earning a reputation for working boldly across disciplines.

The painted shapes and designs of Niap’s generally play off the forms in the photographed landscapes, resulting in a dynamic dialogue between two different media and distinct artistic sensibilities. Niap’s decision to use mostly bright neon colours strongly contrasts her lively painting and Fréchette’s austere black-and-white images. By painting directly over Fréchette’s photographs of some of those lands, Niap is, in her own words, “symbolically reclaiming the land for our people.” At the same time, she sees her work with Fréchette, a non-Inuk Quebecois, as more than just an artistic collaboration between two artists. She views their work together as a vital act of reconciliation between two people and their respective cultural groups.

Text from Marion Scott Gallery