Three Sea Spirits with Empty Kayak

Ananaisie Alikatuktuk (1944-2007) was an Inuit graphic artist and carver who contributed hundreds of drawings to the archives at the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts in Pangnirtung. Born in 1944, he grew up on Paallavvik, near Broughton Island, before relocating to Pangnirtung where he worked as a janitor and school bus driver while maintaining his artistic practice.

Alikatuktuk's work gained recognition in 1976 when two of his drawings were published as Pangnirtung prints for the first time. One of these, a stonecut entitled "Taleelayu and Family," was printed by his brother Thomasie and has become a highly sought collector's item. Alikatuktuk came from a family of artists that included his brother Thomasie, a master printmaker and former mainstay of the Pangnirtung Print Collections before moving to Iqaluit, his sister Annie Pitsiulak, who has produced many drawings for the Pangnirtung archives, and his brother Alan, who has also created numerous drawings used in prints and tapestries. Alikatuktuk passed away in January 2007 in Pangnirtung after a long illness, survived by his eight children, grandchildren, and siblings.