Oviloo TunnillieLife & Work

“Few artists have been able to accomplish the abstraction of pure emotion through cold, hard stone as Oviloo Tunnillie. Her subjects are defined by what they feel, not what role they play in society. In fact viewers may wonder if they are seeing work by an Inuit artist, as Oviloo’s sculpture crosses cultural lines.”

– Darlene Coward Wight

Oviloo Tunnillie: Life & Work surveys the career of this important artist. It begins in 1966, with Tunnillie’s realistic human and animal carvings, continues through her transition to less traditional themes in the 1980s, and ends with her focus on the autobiographical in the 1990s, which included depictions of the trauma she experienced when she contracted tuberculosis as a child and was separated from her family to receive treatment at a Manitoba hospital. Renowned for her sculptures, with a particular focus on women, that tell personal stories, expressed through a range of emotions and body language, this book reveals the story of one of the country’s most unique artists.

Copyright Information

Banner Image: Oviloo Tunnillie, This Has Touched My Life, 1991–92. Collection of the Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau (IV-C-5498 a-d). Courtesy of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Photo credit: Ernest Mayer. © Dorset Fine Arts.