Helen Kalvak

Helen Kalvak was born on Victoria Island in the Northwest Territories. As a young woman, she was initiated as an angakkuq (shaman), possessing vast traditional knowledge of drum dancing, hunting taboos, and supernatural helper spirits. After settling in Holman (now Ulukhaktok) in 1960, Father Henri Tardy encouraged her to put her memories on paper.

Drawing with ballpoint pens and crayons, Kalvak produced more than 3,000 detailed visual chronicles of ancient nomadic life: hunters battling polar bears, shamans flying through blizzards, and maternal taboos. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1978 and elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.