Congratulations to Germaine Arnaktauyok on receiving the Governor General’s Visual and Media Arts Artistic Achievement Award, an annual award given for outstanding contributions to Canadian art. Germaine is one of the most successful graphic artists working today. Born just outside of Igloolik in 1946, Germaine’s early years were spent living a traditional life on the land. Though she is one of the few Inuit artists to receive a formal art education, Germaine’s talent developed in her childhood. Much of her work explores the myths, legends and stories of the arctic, often focused on women. The new prints we are presenting were created for her Iqaluit exhibition that celebrates Inuit femininity through traditional Inuit tattoos and ivory combs. After years of disavowing the practice, young Inuit women are rediscovering the practice of tattooing which traditionally marked the stages of a woman’s life such as entering adolescence, marriage, and childbirth. Among the prints available are her lovely Tattoo Woman II which shows a woman with face, arm and thigh tattooing, or Germaine’s beautiful image of traditional ivory combs.