Alootook Ipellie

Who was Alootook Ipellie?

Alootook Ipellie was an accomplished Inuit graphic artist, political and satirical cartoonist and writer, photographer, and Inuktitut translator. He was born in the small hunting camp of Nuvuqquq near Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories now known as Iqaluit, Nunavut on Baffin Island. His father Joanassie died in a hunting accident before Ipellie's first birthday and his mother Napatchie moved with him to the hamlet of Frobisher Bay. "He spent his childhood and early teenage years adjusting to the transition from the traditional nomadic Inuit way of life to life in government-sponsored Inuit settlements." He died of a heart attack in Ottawa, Ontario at age 56 and is survived by his daughter, Taina Ipellie.