Egevadluq Ragee
(1920–)
(–1983)
Egevadluq Ragee
1920–1983
Egevadluq Ragee (1920–1983) was a graphic artist known for her drawings and acrylics. Born in Ikirasak Camp near Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut, she spent her life in various Inuit camps around Kinngait before settling there in 1967. While living in Tikerak in 1959, Egevadluq began creating graphite drawings after being encouraged by artists Sheowak and Napatchie Pootoogook. Egevadluq’s drawings primarily depict scenes of daily Inuit life and moments of transformation where birds, animals, and humans shift into mythical creatures.
Egevadluq lived with her parents in Ikirasak Camp until her sister was born, at which point she went to live with her grandparents in a nearby camp. She married Kootoo with whom she had two children. One of her children passed away in its infancy, and her husband passed away soon after due to illness. She was later remarried to carver and graphic artist Sakkiassie. The pair lived in Nuvudjuak and adopted four children. The family then moved to Tikerak before settling in Kinngait in 1967 due to improved housing conditions. Egevadluq’s daughter Sorodoluto Onalik is a graphic artist and carver in Iqaluit, and her adopted son Peter Ragee is a stencil maker.
Beginning in 1959, both Egevadluq and her husband, Sakkiassie, began drawing. Egevadluq’s early drawings filled entire sheets of paper with mythical creatures intermingled with everyday scenes. As her work developed, she began experimenting with colour and other mediums, such as wax crayons and felt tip pens, in 1960. By 1970, she was one of the first Inuit artists in Kinngait to begin experimenting with acrylic paints and washes. Characteristic of her work, Egevadluq shaded in large areas of her drawings with short strokes to add texture to the image, an atypical method among artists in Kinngait at the time.
Between 1960 and 1982, Egevadluq’s prints and drawings were regularly featured in the Annual Cape Dorset Print Collection. Her work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, and Europe, such as Eegyvudlik Ragee: Acrylic Works on Paper at the Ecla London Gallery in Montreal. Further, her work has been collected into numerous public, private, and corporate collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, the Toronto Dominion Bank Collection, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, among others.