Kananginak Pootoogook was born in 1935 at Ikeraksak, a small hunting camp outside Cape Dorset on Baffin Island’s southwest coast. The ninth and youngest son of Ningiokoluk and her husband Pootoogook, the camp’s respected leader, he was brought up to be a hunter and provider for his future family.

In 1957 he moved with his parents to Cape Dorset, taking his wife Shooyoo and their daughter with him. There Kananginak met James Houston, who was then in the process of establishing the community’s printmaking program. Kananginak was chosen by Houston to be one of four men employed to cut images onto smoothed slabs of stone that could then be inked for transfer to paper.

In 1961, he became the first president of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, a position he held for the next 11 years. Around 1962, Kananginak began making his first drawings, eventually gaining a reputation for skilled draughtsman.

One of the North’s best wildlife artists, over the years Kananginak is estimated to have produced over 1300 drawings in total, while some 226 prints based on his images have been released.

Still a resident of Cape Dorset and retired from the printshop since 1978, he continues to make drawings on a variety of themes. Kananginak is best known for his detailed drawings and prints of Arctic wildlife, in particular the region’s abundant bird-life. Although his works often contain strong elements of stylization, it remains realistic by the standards of northern art, leading to frequent comparisons with the work of the American painter-naturalist James Audubon (1785-1851).

Rarely taking legends or supernatural themes as his subject matter, in other works he has sought to recapture details of the lifestyle his forebears had known. Most recently he has shown an interest in portraying various episodes in the encounter between the northern and southern cultures. Despite his strongly narrative and even illustrative approach, Kananginak has developed a recognizable personal style founded upon a unique vision. He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy in 1980.