Qillaniq accompanies the 2026 quinquennial of Indigenous art at the National Gallery of Canada. The title is based on an Inuktitut word describing the effect of light from the sun or the moon shimmering on water - appropriate for an exhibition and a publication focussing on the circumpolar world.
The art in Qillaniq is multi-vocal, multi-disciplinary, and improvisational; it's inspired by Indigenous values of contributing to community in as many ways as possible. It's also an expression of radical joy, an exploration of what the artists tell us is possible in our communities, of holding space for the people who change our world - despite not always fitting into the norms of colonizing institutions. Most of all, it celebrates those who share love as an answer to difficulty. Qillaniq - that shimmering, bright light -honours the circumpolar world's badass artists who tell us all that our existence is enough.
Featuring essays by 24 contributors from the circumpolar world - Alaskaq, Inuit Nunangat, Kalaallit Nunaat, and Sapmi - and reproductions of work by approximately 80 artists from each of these territories, Qillaniq is a true celebration of the circumpolar North, not as the South might want it to be but as it is.
Qillaniq, ce bel ouvrage qui accompagne la quinquennale d'art autochtone presentee en 2026 au Musee des beaux-arts du Canada, a pour titre un mot de la langue inuktitut qui designe le miroitement des rayons du soleil ou de la lune sur l'eau. Pouvait-on mieux choisir, pour une exposition et un ouvrage qui celebrent le monde circumpolaire?
Qillaniq nous offre un art polyphonique et multidisciplinaire, riche d'improvisations. Un art inspire des valeurs autochtones qui privilegient l'apport au bien commun sous toutes les formes. Un art qui exprime une joie profonde, le message d'artistes qui voient tous les possibles dans nos communautes, qui fait place aux gens qui font evoluer notre monde en faisant fi des normes dictees par la colonisation. C'est, surtout, un art qui celebre ceux et celles qui brandissent l'amour devant les ecueils. Qillaniq - miroitement, lumiere vive -, est un hymne aux artistes rebelles du monde circumpolaire qui nous disent, a tous, que notre existence suffit.
Mariage d'essais de 24 auteurs et d'œuvres d'environ 80 artistes du monde circumpolaire (Alaskaq, Inuit Nunangat, Kalaallit Nunaat et Sapmi), Qillaniq exalte un Nord circumpolaire authentique, qui ne cede pas aux injonctions du Sud.
