Meet Oviloo Tunnillie one of the few female Inuit carvers to achieve international success. Her work will touch your heart and leave you wanting to know even more about the talented woman who created such exquisite art.
Not only is Oviloo a unique carver because of her gender, but also because she was so prolific and her pieces give the viewer such a remarkable window into her own personal life. Sadly Oviloo died in 2014 of cancer when she was only 65.
I a, particularly drawn to the pieces that tell of Oviloo’s childhood illness.
At the age of five, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis
and was taken away from her family and sent to a Manitoba hospital to recover. She was separated from her parents and siblings for nearly three years.
Frightened and unable to speak English the little girl felt sad and lost.
Oviloo was a carver,
a daughter,
an armchair sports enthusiast,
a mother and grandmother,
a woman,
and a citizen who witnessed first hand some of the pressing social problems in her home community.
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