“Carving is something that I grew up understanding was part of our family, and something that always interested me,” Damien Iqualla explains. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, he lived there for seventeen years until he travelled to Joe Haven, Nunavut to meet his family. He ended up staying there for a few years and learning to carve before moving to Cambridge Bay, where he lived for 15 years. He decided to move to Iqaluit to go to school for a couple years before moving to Ottawa. He’s been doing caving demonstrations through Connected North, though a broken leg has slowed him down for the last three months.

When Iqualla first learned to carve, his cousin who had been carving all of his teen years is the one who taught him. Visiting his cousin, they looked at his carving magazines, he peppered his cousin with questions and talked about it with him constantly until his cousin let him borrow tools and gave him materials to get started.

Iqualla took a one year program in school, then the environmental technologies program for a year, and now he is taking a year off from school while he is in Ottawa. He got to learn about environmental law from actual lawyers and policy makers, learning about the Nunavut agreement and wildlife policies and other things that excited him.

When asked for his advice for a young Indigenous person considering taking up carving, Iqualla said, “ I think probably taking up carving is very beneficial, it's a supportive thing for somebody to be doing, because there's a lot of support in the territory for this type of thing. And there's definitely a lot of effort going into trying to revive the arts in the communities. It's a productive way to spend your time, and it also creates income for people, and it really opens your mind to creativity, working with your hands and trying to solve problems and create a finished product. It's a really productive way to spend your time, and it can be quite enjoyable if you're into that type of thing, plus you get to meet a much broader community than what you would normally just experience in your hometown. So it opens a lot of doors for people.”

In terms of his advice for Indigenous students thinking about post-secondary, Iqualla encourages post-secondary after high school as he didn’t finish high school and he didn’t pursue post-secondary until 15 years later. By the time he got there, he was thinking “I wish I would have just taken this path a lot earlier in my life, because Arctic College is a really supportive environment where you get to engage with people from different communities who are sort of like minded and pursuing the same goals as you…There's a lot of resources available to students. There's a pretty good selection of courses that students can take, and that also lead to very fulfilling careers. A lot of these courses also open doors to further education, where, in this day and age, it's something that is becoming more and more necessary, and the more education you can get, the better lifestyle you're going to be able to live.” With the high cost of living in the North, Iqualla encourages more education to avoid poverty.

If Iqualla could give advice to his younger self it would be, “Be cautious and stay true to yourself, but also make yourself more available to a much wider community, because you never know who is out there and who's really trying to support you. You never know where things are going to go. Look out for yourself, but don't be so restricted.” At the same time, he wouldn’t have changed much in terms of his journey. He explored, traveled and tried new things. He produced a lot of work with limited resources and was stubborn and determined. He networked and found supportive people.

When it comes to his carvings, Iqualla used pyroxene stone, similar to serpentine, also antlers, whale bones, mammoth ivories, whatever he could find that was attractive. He was initially attracted to his grandfather’s style and he started making art in the style like he saw in Vancouver art galleries growing up. He based his carvings on traditional stories. His first carving was of a walrus shaman who was drum dancing. He ended up shifting his style to be more broadly appealing, carving more refined bodies and animals. He liked carving muskox, narwhals and caribou. He watched the Inuit art market and created what was more popular and easier to sell.

Thinking of his inspiration, Iqualla says, “I think my inspiration comes from just the desire to create quality art, the desire to remain creative and push myself. In this industry, you have to be resourceful. It's always really good to try new things, because it keeps your mind active and it's always something that I like to do, something that is challenging. It's always very refreshing for me to start on a new piece, or tackle a new material, or just kind of create something that you think is going to have a good impact on the art scene. That is what has always motivated me as a mature carver, the ability to constantly create new themed pieces that were appealing and that I thought were of good quality, and that also made me feel good about creating my artwork."

Once he made the decision to move North to continue his family tradition of carving, Damien Iqualla began a career pursuing his passions. After relocating South again, he’s sharing his talents with youth through Connected North online and inspiring a new generation of carvers. Following the art market and driven to create quality art, he’s crafting works of beauty and proud to continue a legacy.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.