Print Maker: Timothy Ottochie (1904-1982)

Parr (1893-1969) began life as a traditional hunter on a remote campsite near Cape Dorset. He moved to the settlement in 1961 after suffering a hunting accident that prevented him from providing for his family and forcing him off the land. It was in Cape Dorset at the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative where he was introduced to drawing and stonecut prints by Terry Ryan. In his short career of only eight years, he created over 2,000 drawings and contributed 34 prints to the Annual Cape Dorset print collections. He died in 1969 at the age of 76.

Parr’s work captures a critical period in history when Inuit were transitioning from semi-nomadic life to settlements. They are regarded as authentic visual representations of the Inuit traditional nomadic hunting lifestyle, serving as a record for future generations. His style is characterized as minimal yet energetic and structurally skeletal, often eliciting comparisons to prehistoric Dorset art or pictographs. Parr rarely drew images from legends or lore but instead favoured depictions of his own life, specifically memories from his hunting days. Although the figures and animals are sometimes vague, they evoke the impressionistic quality of drawing from memory: the details are no longer clear, and impressions are favoured over accuracy in their expression.

Though Parr was underappreciated as an artist during his lifetime, his work has now been exhibited internationally and was featured on a postage stamp in 1977. His work is held in private and public collections, including major institutions like the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.