An Inuit artist born near Back River in Nunavut or Northern Canada, Jessie Oonark began her art career at age 54, creating a body of wall hangings and prints that earned her much acclaim and which, in bright colors, are symbolic of her native heritage. She was married to an Inuit man at a young age, but with eight children and two left still needing support, she was widowed by 1953.

In 1958, she moved to the hamlet of Baker Lake because the Caribou migration on which her farming people depended for food was shifting away, leaving many persons to starve.

Two years later, her first prints were published. "Her style is marked by her bold use of large areas of flat colour and the attention she paid to ...