2023 Acquisitions: Purchases 

Focused on the work of historical and contemporary artists who have contributed to the artistic life of the Ottawa-Gatineau region, our Permanent Collection is an essential part of the OAG’s activities. We are excited to look back and share a roundup of our 2023 purchases, and the ways in which these works help to enrich our Collection. 

We’re thrilled to share that the OAG made four exciting purchases in 2023! 

OAG purchased ᓴᑭᐊᒍᑎ [Sakiaguti] (2021), by Martha Kyak, a designer from Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet), NU, who has been building her fashion line InukChic in Ottawa, ON, blending traditional Inuit designs with contemporary influences.  

Purchased with the support of the RBC Foundation, as well as the Elizabeth L. Gordon Art Program, a program of the Gordon Foundation and administered by the Ontario Arts Foundation, this work by Kyak is a sakiaguti, a curved Inuit adornment that was traditionally placed over an amauti: a woman’s parka with a pouch to carry a baby. It is made of several materials, including beads that form a long contemporary fringe, and sealskin, a very dense, warm and waterproof material that is integral to Inuit culture and a means of subsistence in the North. Previously featured in OAG’s 2021 exhibition Sheltered in Place: Portraits of Community, Self, and Family, this is the first work by Kyak as well as the first wearable work to enter OAG’s collection. 

With the generous support of the Stonecroft Foundation, we also completed the purchase of three works by Kitigan Zibi artist Jobena Petonoquot. Reflective of her practice, mixed media works such as My Grandfather Trapped the Rabbit (2018), Ode to my Grandfather (2018), and Bringer of Death (2018), incorporate beadwork technique, fibre art, and installation to create narrative works that take a critical and sensitive look at Canada’s colonial history, as well as highlighting the beauty of her culture and her love of the land.  

Carrying family histories and holistic and relational knowledge from her Algonquin Anishinābe and Naskapi relations into her rigorous artistic practice, Petonoquot displayed these works in the exhibition Jobena Petonquot: Rebellion of my Ancestors at the OAG in 2022, and these purchases represent the first works by Petonoquot to enter the collection.