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Abraham Anghik (1951– ), also known as Abraham Anghik Ruben, was born in a camp south of Paulatuk, Northwest Territories, east of the Mackenzie River Delta. He currently lives and works on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. A sculptor of Inuvialuit ancestry, his work is focused on reconnecting with his familial heritage through stories, myths, and legends. In 2016, he was awarded the Order of Canada for his artistic contributions as a sculptor and for his work in preserving northern heritage.

Abraham’s work is rooted in his Inuvialuit ancestry and his familial connections to other Nordic communities. His great-grandparents Apakark and Kagu, shamans from the Bering Sea region of Alaska, arrived in the Inuvik region in the 1890s. Growing up, Abraham lived with his family, migrating between seasonal fishing and hunting camps with the changing of the seasons. In 1959, at the age of eight years old, Abraham and his siblings were sent to the Grollier Hall residential school where Abraham remained until 1970. Of Abraham’s fourteen siblings, his brother David Ruben Piqtoukun is a sculptor and printmaker. 

In 1971, Abraham attended the Native Arts Centre at the University of Alaska where he studied under Ronald Senungetuk, an Iñupiaq carver, sculptor, and silversmith. Throughout the 1970s Abraham worked in a variety of media, including sculpture, jewelry, prints, and drawings. During this period, Toronto art dealer Jack Pollok became interested in his work and exhibited a series of solo exhibitions of his sculptures.

Abraham’s work had always been concerned with exploring the traditional stories, experiences, and mythologies of his youth. However, after surviving cancer in 2004, these themes expanded to explore the broader relationships between the Inuit and other cultures and peoples that have inhabited the northern hemisphere, specifically the relationship between the Inuit and the Viking Norse.

Abraham’s sculptures have been exhibited in many major exhibitions, including Arctic Journeys/Ancient Memories: The Sculpture of Abraham Anghik Ruben, a solo exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in 2012. His work can also be found in a variety of public, private, and corporate collections, including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, the Art Gallery of Winnipeg, and the Museum Cerny Inuit Collection, Bern, Switzerland, among others.