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Aurélie Maire

I am a young researcher who leads a Ph.D jointly in History of Art at Laval University in Quebec City and in Inuit Studies at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO) in Paris. My research is devoted to contemporary Inuit graphic arts (drawing and print) in Nunavut and Nunavik (Canadian Eastern Arctic) and artistic creation sphere based on a multidisciplinary reflexion of the notions on art, discourses and culture. This ongoing thesis focuses on analysing graphic works of art (prints and drawings) and discourses revolving around them, according to a methodology deriving from history of arts, visual anthropology and ethnolinguistics.

Related to my ongoing study (and my greatest pleasure !), I use to go to Arctic communities in order to gather information and narration related to artistic and cultural domains. Knowledge of fieldwork based on recent experiences in the Arctic and more particularly in Alaska (2002) and Nunavut (Panniqtuuq in 2006 and Kinngait in 2007) added to a double academic training and several experiences in Canadian and French museums and non profit organisations allow me to engage interesting discussions – I guess - about Inuit art and culture in the Canadian Arctic, and more largely on a pan Inuit scale (Alaska, Canada and Greenland).

Fascinated by the Arctic and Inuit culture since I was a little girl and later passionate for contemporary art, I decided to join my interests in 2003, thus elaborating a thesis topic both conducted in France (where I was born) and in Quebec (where I live). My research benefits from a double training undertaken at several French universities : in History of Art (Master acquired at the Bordeaux 3 University and at the Paris 10 University in France) and in Inuit Studies – linguistic and anthropology program devoted to Inuktitut (Inuit language) and Northern culture – at the Inalco in Paris.

But the most important is that Jean-Robert let me write up texts on this blog : thanks for your trust ! Nakurmik !