Artist Info
Peter Aliknak
Peter Aliknak, also known as Alec Aliknak Banksland, was a talented sculptor and printmaker from Ulukhaktok (Holman), NWT. Born in 1928 on Baillie Island, NWT, his parents were Alaskan guide Natkutsiak (Billy Banksland) and Topsy Ekiona, a Mackenzie Delta Inuit. Aliknak’s sister is well-known Ulukhaktok graphic artist Agnes Nanogak and the family was one of the first to settle in the region in the 1930s. Aliknak married Elizabeth Putuitok and they had eight children. Putuitok was sent to Edmonton to receive treatment for tuberculosis and learned English in her five years there. After returning to Ulukhaktok in the 1950s, she used her ability to translate to help Aliknak sell his carvings to visitors.
With the development of local printmaking programs by Father Henri Tardy in the 1960s, Aliknak was one of the Holman Printmaking program’s founding artists. While Aliknak had begun his artistic pursuits as a sculptor, he spent most of his time printmaking and experimenting with different techniques including stonecut, lithography, and etching. Aliknak’s prints focused on providing a record of daily life in a time of change and Inuit settlement. He preferred working at home and was not involved with the technical aspects of printmaking.
Aliknak’s prints were featured in several Holman annual print collections and have been exhibited across Canada and internationally. His works have not yet been featured at the ULAG.
