Kablusiak wants to make you laugh — or cry. Here's why

Update: Kablusiak wins the 2023 Sobey Art Award 

Before we even got a chance to talk, Kablusiak had me laughing. Shortlisted for this year's Sobey Art Award, the artist is the maker of works like these: Furby Ookpiks; 7-11 treat bags stuffed with soapstone candies; Garfield cartoons (in the style of Pudlo Pudlat and Germaine Arnaktauyok). 

It's stuff that's absurdly hilarious, at least on the surface. But of course, Kablusiak's telling a bigger story with every photo and sculpture … and tribute to doom scrolling: a story about cultural displacement and the demystification of Inuit art. 

Also known as Jade Nasogaluak Carpenter — "I keep Jade for when I'm ordering Starbucks," the artist jokes — Kablusiak was raised in Edmonton. The Inuvialuk artist, who uses they/them pronouns, now lives and works in Calgary, where they graduated from the Alberta University of the Arts in 2016, and they've discussed their practice with CBC in the past: "I'd like to make art without having to deal with the crushing weight of cultural identity and what that's supposed to look like in today's world," Kablusiak told CBC Radio's Ideas back in 2019 — the last time they were up for the Sobey. And while Stephanie Comilang would ultimately win that year, Kablusiak is making another run at the $100,000 prize — and it's not the only major award they're vying for this summer.

In addition to the Sobey, the artist was recently nominated for the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award, a $20,000 biennial prize that recognizes the best in contemporary Inuit art. (A group exhibition devoted to the honourees is now appearing at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq.)

• Read more CBC Arts coverage of the Sobey Art Awards

These days, though, Kablusiak's got their mind on Ottawa, specifically the Sobey shortlist exhibition that will open at the National Gallery of Canada in October. For the show, they'll be repping the Prairies and the North, and they're already locking down their plans. 

What ideas are they cooking up — and how did their first Sobey experience prepare them for this go 'round? Read on. 

CBC Arts: This isn't your first Sobey nomination, so maybe we can flash back to 2019 for just a second. When you think back on that experience, did being on the Sobey shortlist have any impact on your life, your artwork?

Kablusiak: A lot of the works that I made for the Sobey exhibition in 2019 at the AGA (Art Gallery of Alberta) — they've been exhibited a lot.

The opportunity gave me gas to go on for a couple of years. Like, the works that I showed at the AGA back then have been exhibited internationally. Most recently, two works in the photo series Piliutiyara — they were exhibited in a group show during the Nuuk Nordic Culture Festival (Greenland). It's quite crazy to think that those pictures came from that exhibition.

When you reflect on the time that's passed since your last Sobey nomination, do you think your practice has changed in any way since then? Have you come to think of what you do any differently?

I think the biggest thing that I've noticed is I've gained a deeper understanding of myself and my art practice and what I want to communicate with people.

I'm always hoping to either make someone laugh or cry — or hopefully both. 

I'm trying to think about the audience: who am I making it for? Like, what kind of impact would this potentially have? I think I'm trying to be a little bit more cerebral about it. It just feels like I have a sturdier connection between making something from my brain a reality. 

I love that line: "you're always hoping to make someone laugh or cry — or hopefully both." Looking up images of your work earlier today, I've got to say you made me laugh out loud so many times …

Oh, I love that!

Like, there's that drawing from the 2019 Sobey exhibition at the AGA — a figure on its knees surrounded by dollar signs, the one that says "Thank you, Mr. Sobey." That is so daring, but it's also just plain funny. Can you tell me about that piece? What prompted it at the time?

Originally, that piece was a small dry-erase drawing on the whiteboard that I was using to plan out everything. I had a friend come over and they noticed the drawing, and they were like, "Oh, is that going in the exhibition?" So I was like, "Well, let's try it out!" 

I pitched it to Lindsay Sharman, who was the [Sobey] curator of the Prairies and North at the time, and she was super into it. She was like, "Let's make it a giant wall vinyl." 

It was so fun that everyone was into it. I even took a picture with Mr. Sobey in front of it. 

Humour — why is it so important to what you do?

Humour — I feel like it's an Inuit thing, it's an Indigenous thing. Humour is a really accessible way to talk through things that are really tough, like trauma, mental health concerns — all the stuff in life where you can't do anything about it and you just have to deal with it. I feel like humour is a really good way to cope — for me, at least. 

Has it always been something you've valued in your art-making? What led you to embrace humour there?

For sure. I think it's kind of always been there, but I've also sort of realized that art doesn't have to be serious. Maybe I still have that punk mentality of "This is not rocket surgery." Like, nobody's dying.

Let's try to make light of things — while also doing institutional critique or talking about something super traumatic. Humour has a common ground to it for sure. 

It's a way to make a connection …

For sure.

This year's Sobey nomination: what does it mean for you personally and professionally?

It still feels super surreal. Maybe when I'm finally shipping artworks over to the gallery, it might feel real. I've never exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada before, which is super, super exciting. This time around, it feels like I have a better understanding of how the sausage gets made, so it's not as stressful.

Are you already busy preparing for the exhibition? What can you tell me about the ideas you're developing?

Mm hmm, I want to make some more soapstone carvings, for sure. I just bought a sandblasting cabinet thing, so I can safely carve soapstone in the studio without shooting dust everywhere. (laughs)

I'm also working with [the Sobey Prairies and North] curator and Shannon Norberg, who's my gallerist at Norberg Hall, to collect previously made works — hopefully filling up the exhibition space with soapstone carvings and stuff from private and public collections. We're trying to collect a variety of works that exhibit all the different media my ADHD brain can get into.

Why the focus on making soapstone carvings, then? 

For one, it's super fun. It's such a fun material to work with and I think there's a novelty to it, as well. You know, the southern Inuk making soapstone carving: it sounds like the set up to a joke or something, you know?

Thematic wise, I think we're going to do an overview of different media. A lot of my works, they usually fall under the same umbrella of themes: it could either be relating to the urban Inuk identity or even just displacement. There's a vein running through all of my work, for sure. 

We talked about the "Thank you, Mr. Sobey" drawing earlier — but can we talk about the prize money for a second?

(laughs) Yes.

If you win, what plans do you have for the prize? What would $100,000 let you do?

I want to buy a house, for sure, and property in Alberta is pretty reasonable right now. 

But I think it'll just add security, which is something that independent artists — I don't know if any of us have a good amount of security. I'm going to call this my pension, pretty much.

When you don't have to worry about the basics, then you can really just give'r with artistic freedom.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

The 2023 Sobey Art Award exhibition will be at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa Oct. 13, 2023 - March 3, 2024. The winner of the prize will be announced in November. www.gallery.ca