Dozens, maybe hundreds, of Inuit artists have sketched polar bears. Only one is likely to have sketched polar bears sketching people.

She may also be the only Inuk to have drawn hunters taking aim at a walrus the size of an apartment block. Or octopuses with human legs and multiracial faces. Or a parka-clad woman juggling two worlds while giving birth to a third. Or works inspired by the Titanic. Or Godzilla.

Welcome to the world of Shuvinai Ashoona, the global art star from Kinngait, whose unique blend of fantasy, realism and nostalgia have made her one of the latest recipients of the Governor GeneralSA国际影视传媒檚 Awards in the arts, CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 highest visual and media arts award.

SA国际影视传媒淔or me, drawings can come from what I see out there or what I donSA国际影视传媒檛 see around me,SA国际影视传媒� Ashoona told The Canadian Press in an email. SA国际影视传媒淓very time I draw something, it helps me to understand what I see and also whatSA国际影视传媒檚 going on in my imagination.SA国际影视传媒�

The artist, 62, prefers to conduct interviews through written questions translated into her native Inuktitut.

SA国际影视传媒淒ifferent people see so many different things when they look at drawings,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淭heySA国际影视传媒檒l see things in a way that I hadnSA国际影视传媒檛 even thought of myself.SA国际影视传媒�

Five other artists were also awarded: Barbara Astman of Toronto, whose photo-based work is in the Canadian Embassy in Berlin and on the cover of an album by the band Loverboy Montreal-based Dominique Blain, known for politically charged large-scale sculpture and installations Don Ritter, a Montreal artist whose sound and visual installations have been shown in 23 countries photographer Greg Staats, who looks at nature through Indigenous and settler lenses and Saskatchewan Metis documentarian Marjorie Beaucage, who has made 40 films.

Ashoona, whose work is shown across the country and around the world, comes from a long line of artists working out of the West Baffin Cooperative in Kinngait.

Her father, Kiugak Ashoona, and mother, Sorosilutu Ashoona, were both well known. Her grandmother, Pitseolak Ashoona, was one of the foremost Inuit artists of her time. Her cousin Annie Pootoogook won worldwide praise before her tragic and early death.

Shuvinai Ashoona spent plenty of time around West BaffinSA国际影视传媒檚 studios when she was young. But she was not an art kid.

SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檇 play in the yard with older students during recess, and after school weSA国际影视传媒檇 visit our classmates at home,SA国际影视传媒� she wrote. SA国际影视传媒淚SA国际影视传媒檇 spend summer camping with Mom and Dad, and sometimes weSA国际影视传媒檇 have cousins camping with us.

SA国际影视传媒淲hen I was younger, I wasnSA国际影视传媒檛 really interested in making art. I spent most of my time studying at school and at home. We did have art class at school. But at the time, I wasnSA国际影视传媒檛 very interested.SA国际影视传媒�

She credits her sister Goota SA国际影视传媒� an artist and one of 11 Ashoona siblings SA国际影视传媒� with getting her started drawing in about 1996.

Patricia Feheley of TorontoSA国际影视传媒檚 Feheley Fine Arts, which has shown AshoonaSA国际影视传媒檚 work since 2006, has known the family since that time.

SA国际影视传媒淯p there, you need a way to live,SA国际影视传媒� Feheley said. SA国际影视传媒�(Goota) felt Shuvinai was talented.SA国际影视传媒�

Feheley recalls how the tiny pencil drawings Ashoona started with just kept getting bigger, more colourful SA国际影视传媒� and weirder. Eventually, detailed documentary drawings gave way to entire sheets covered with brightly coloured eggs or a family confronting a rock crawling with what look to be cats with tentacles.

SA国际影视传媒淪he was literally letting her mind run amok.SA国际影视传媒�

Yet traditional Inuit imagery such as seals and skin tents keep popping up. And thatSA国际影视传媒檚 the key, said Robert Kardosh of the Marion Scott Gallery in Vancouver, which has also mounted many Ashoona shows.

SA国际影视传媒淪ometimes in the same image she will juxtapose those two things SA国际影视传媒� fairly naturalistically rendered people in their parkas in this fantastical world of creatures. Her vision can be very much not of this world.SA国际影视传媒�

Inspiration can come from the everyday world around her, Ashoona said. But it rarely ends there.

SA国际影视传媒淚 see a lot of things on television and in books and magazines. And sometimes ISA国际影视传媒檓 interested in using those things in my artwork, like the way that I use things from my community, whatSA国际影视传媒檚 around me and what ISA国际影视传媒檓 imagining.

SA国际影视传媒淚 donSA国际影视传媒檛 know where my work is going until I start to draw, and sometimes it even becomes something totally different than what I was thinking.SA国际影视传媒�

Feheley has watched her work. Ashoona once started a piece by carefully drawing a hair braid in the middle of the sheet. Slowly, gradually, everything emerged around it.

SA国际影视传媒淭hereSA国际影视传媒檚 no preliminary sketches,SA国际影视传媒� Feheley said. SA国际影视传媒淪he just goes into it. That mind is just always everywhere.SA国际影视传媒�

So is the art. AshoonaSA国际影视传媒檚 work has been shown to astonishment and praise in London, Venice, Sydney, Miami, New Mexico and Massachusetts. It hangs in Canadian public galleries and private collections from coast to coast. She regularly collaborates with artists in the south.

SA国际影视传媒淚 call her a super-connector,SA国际影视传媒� said Kardosh.

SA国际影视传媒淪he bridges realms of experience in her work. She manages to say something about her specific locale, but she embraces the global vision, too.SA国际影视传媒�

AshoonaSA国际影视传媒檚 work captivates a wide audience that goes far beyond a simple fascination with the Arctic, Feheley said.

SA国际影视传媒淭hereSA国际影视传媒檚 no one else like her. Regardless of whether youSA国际影视传媒檙e from Australia or Germany, these images she creates just resonate with people.SA国际影视传媒�

Governor GeneralSA国际影视传媒檚 Awards winners receive a medal and $25,000. The citation for AshoonaSA国际影视传媒檚 award says sheSA国际影视传媒檚 never content to follow rules and expectations.

SA国际影视传媒淎shoonaSA国际影视传媒檚 unconventional artistic vision has successfully challenged and revolutionized how the public perceives Inuit art and contemporary Indigenous art more generally, helping to create a new space for expression and artistic freedom,SA国际影视传媒� it says.

For Ashoona, itSA国际影视传媒檚 simpler.

SA国际影视传媒淚 donSA国际影视传媒檛 even think about getting awards,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

SA国际影视传媒淚SA国际影视传媒檓 very happy that people come to see my drawings. I want everyone to see my artwork.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒擝y Bob Weber, The Canadian Press