Paul Quviq Malliki was born in 1956 in a remote settlement near Igloolik. He lived there with his family until he was 10 years old. They then moved to Igloolik, where he stayed until he was 20. His family then moved to Naujaat to live with his grandmother. Paul continued to live there with his wife and their seven children.
Paul created his first sculpture at the age of 5. He learned on his own and by observing other sculptors.
“Mostly on my own. I learned most things by hunting. By observing my surroundings. When I hunt, I study the animals. All the animals around us.”
“I’m often asked to buy my sculptures. My father would leave for days at a time to hunt, to trap foxes.” If I wasn’t accompanying him, I sculpted to provide for the family, or if I wasn’t out hunting myself, in the dead of winter.”
Paul sculpts many different animals and faces, but the caribou is his favorite. His works can be found in numerous private and public collections and are highly sought after by galleries across North America, including Fehley Fine Arts in Toronto and the Judy Birch Gallery in Virginia and Nova Scotia. He is also recently represented by the Brousseau Inuit Art Gallery in Quebec City.
Malliki has completed many prestigious commissions, including gifts for Prime Minister Brian Mulrony and Jean Crétien, as well as Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. In 2000, he was also commissioned to sculpt a ptarmigan for the official symbols project of the Iqaluit Legislative Assembly, and in 1999, he was one of six artists who created the Nunavut mace. He was also invited to participate in the “Stories in Stone” sculpture symposium and on several occasions in the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association’s annual arts festival.
When he’s not sculpting, Paul enjoys dogsledding, hunting, and tinkering.
“I love almost everything. I love my life.”
Source: tunngavik.com
