Background
Pootoogook was born at a traditional Inuit camp called Ikerasak, near Cape Dorset, Nunavut (then in the Northwest Territories) to Josephie Pootoogook, leader of the camp, and Sarah Ningeokuluk.
Pootoogook was born at a traditional Inuit camp called Ikerasak, near Cape Dorset, Nunavut (then in the Northwest Territories) to Josephie Pootoogook, leader of the camp, and Sarah Ningeokuluk.
He died as a result of complications related to surgery for lung cancer. The family lived a traditional lifestyle hunting and trapping while living in an iglu in the winter and a sod house in the summer and did not move into their first southern style house until 1942. In 1957 Pootoogook married Shooyoo, moved to Cape Dorset and began work for James Houston.
Originally, Pootoogook did some carving, made prints and lithographs for other artists.
At the same time he was a leader in setting up the West Baffin Eskimo Company-operative, the first Inuit owned co-op, now part of the Arctic Company-operatives Limited and served from 1959 until 1964 as the president Although Kananginak had worked with his father, Josephie, in 1959, it was not until the 1970s that Kananginak began work as a full-time artist producing drawings, carvings and prints.
The World Wildlife Commission released a limited edition set in 1977 that included four of Pootoogook"s images and in 1980 he was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 1997 Pootoogook built a 6 ft (18 m) inukshuk in Cape Dorset for former Governor General of Canada, Roméo LeBlanc.
Pootoogook had several exhibitions and showings of his work.
In 2010, he went to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics and to open a showing of his work at the Marion Scott Gallery. He also had a showing of his work, his first solo exhibition at a public institution, at the Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto from February to May 2010. While working on his final, and unfinished, drawing of a Peterhead owned by his father, he was struck by coughing spells, which he declared was cancer.
In October 2010, he underwent surgery and did not recover.
He died 23 November 2010 in Ottawa. He is buried in Cape Dorset.
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts]
Elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, 1980.