Plunge Toward Innocence Print

Two figures in transformation plunge towards a bird, and innocence, in this stencil print.

2005
Stencil
7/35
39 x 57 cm

Enookie Akulukjuk, master printmaker and annual participant in the Pangnirtung Community Print Collection since 1985, passed away in hospital in Ottawa in mid-December 2006, after a long battle with heart disease. Enookie was born in 1943 in Illunganjuit (Bon Accord), a small community that no longer exists, on Baffin Island. The son of Malaya Akulukjuk, one of Pangnirtung’s most famous artists, he resided in Pangnirtung since 1964. Enookie was among the first printmakers to take up the art after it was introduced in Pangnirtung in the early 1970s. His early printmaking experiences were in the medium of silkscreen. Over the years he also produced a number of beautiful etchings, mastering this technique that utilizes copper and zinc plates. Ultimately, Enookie became a specialist in stencil printing, or pochoir, a technique that he enjoyed for its easy handling and simplicity of design. His stencil prints are characterized by a high level of technical virtuosity, demonstrating smooth, even brush work, softly blended colours, and a level of mastery that he achieved through over thirty years of printmaking experience.