Sep 11, 2024

David Ruben Piqtoukun ᑎᕕᑎ ᐱᑐᑯ ᕈᐱᐃᓐ and the midnight sun

The Inuvialuk sculptor reimagines the midnight sun as an ode to the Inuit

An image of David Ruben Piqtoukun's sculpture People of the Midnight Sun. It features a stone carved face with words carved into it, framed by a red metal circle. The statue stands on two metal blue legs that arch outwards.

David Ruben Piqtoukun. People of the Midnight Sun, 2017. Brazilian soapstone, black pearl stone, red pipestone, steel frame, Overall: 213.4 × 99.1 × 63.5 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Purchase, with funds from the Indigenous and Canadian Committee, 2023. © David Ruben Piqtoukun. 2022/7155

Night or day, the sun never sets in the AGO’s J.S. McLean Centre for Indigenous + Canadian Art thanks to the sculpture People of the Midnight Sun (2017) by Inuvialuk sculptor David Ruben Piqtoukun ᑎᕕᑎ ᐱᑐᑯ ᕈᐱᐃᓐ.

Known as the midnight sun, the Arctic experiences 24-hour daylight every summer. The duration of this period depends on how far up north one lives, but typically, the midnight sun can last anywhere from three to six months. Portraying this natural phenomenon, People of the Midnight Sun is Piqtoukun’s homage to the shared experiences of Indigenous Peoples of the Circumpolar North, from Siberia to Greenland.

The AGO added this work to its Collection following Piqtoukun’s 2023 AGO solo exhibition Radical Remembrance, which showcased 50 works from across the acclaimed sculptor’s decades-long career. Born in Paulatuk, Northwest Territories, in what is now the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Piqtoukun lived a nomadic lifestyle with his family, hunting and fishing along the Arctic coastline, lakes, and inland rivers. His childhood was ripped away from him after he was forced to attend residential school at five years old.

As an act of resistance and reclamation of his Inuit heritage, Piqtoukun began stone carving at 22. He first learned by watching his brother Abraham Anghik Ruben, who is also an internationally recognized Inuvialuk sculptor. In 1975, Piqtoukun began collecting Inuit stories from Elders which have shaped his practice ever since.

Much of Piqtoukun’s skillfully carved sculptures are inspired by Inuit mythology, often mixed with a touch of his humour. Piqtoukun’s work also reflects modern Indigenous Arctic life by juxtaposing Shamanistic masks, stories of transformation, and Arctic wildlife with contemporary elements such as computers and airplanes. Though Piqtoukun primarily sculpts with stone, he regularly incorporates wood, bone, and metal into his work.

A detail shot of David Ruben Piqtoukun's sculpture People of the Midnight Sun. This photograph is a close up of the stone carved face, which has words carved all over it. The face is framed in a red metal hoop.

David Ruben Piqtoukun. People of the Midnight Sun (detail), 2017. Brazilian soapstone, black pearl stone, red pipestone, steel frame, Overall: 213.4 × 99.1 × 63.5 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Purchase, with funds from the Indigenous and Canadian Committee, 2023. © David Ruben Piqtoukun. Photo: AGO. 2022/7155

In People of the Midnight Sun, Piqtoukun uses a red metal hoop to evoke the midnight sun residing in the Arctic sky for the summer. The hoop frames two back-to-back faces representing the 150,000 Inuit living across the Arctic. Both faces are carefully carved with descriptions of life in the North. People of the Midnight Sun stands on blue metal legs, representing how, despite unrelenting sunlight in the summer, the Arctic Ocean and inland lakes of the North remain ice-cold year-round.

Discussing People of the Midnight Sun in a previous interview with Foyer, Piqtoukun shared that the sculpture was inspired by how Inuit discuss land and lineage.

“It has to do with the land claim settlement in the Northwest Territories,” he explained. “People recall, in certain areas, a common expression. You’d look over a vast map of the Arctic, and someone would ask you, ‘where were you born?’ You’d say, ‘up here.’ So, it’s [a way] to just mentally claim this area as homeland. If more people are trained to have knowledge of that land, to reclassify it, it becomes part of their land claim property or settlement.”

In 2022, Piqtoukun's leadership in the art world was recognized with a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. Reflecting on this award with Foyer, Piqtoukun shared: “It means a lot to me. The work that I’ve done over the past 50 years has been acknowledged. I'm not a nobody anymore. I did something, I showed my other side. I’m a stone carver and sculptor by profession, so it's nice to have one’s talents in their lifetime to be acknowledged properly. I can stand with the rest of them.”

People of the Midnight Sun is on view on Level 2 of the AGO in the Wilder Gallery (gallery 228), located in the J.S. McLean Centre for Indigenous + Canadian Art.