Tiffany Ayalik

Artist, Sound Space | December 2022

Tiffany Ayalik is an Inuk performer from Kugluktuk, Nunavut, and was born and raised in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories.

Combining knowledge learned from her elders with her work as an actor and singer, Ayalik creates performances that include theatre, storytelling, music, and education.

Ayalik also produces music with her sister, Inuksuk Mackay as the duo PIQSIQ.

Itqaqhaijuq / Tries to Remember

Itqaqhaijuq / Tries to Remember is a 30-minute multimedia performance by Tiffany Ayalik, developed during her six-month residency at Western Front.

Ayalik’s performance combined her live solo vocals with 8-channel sound, incorporating archival audio recordings of songs performed by Ayalik’s Inuinnait ancestors and community. Imagery inspired by the changing seasons and the natural environment of the North by artist T. Erin Gruber was projected onto Ayalik’s set, which resembles an icy landscape.

These elements combined to form an immersive environment, in which the audience can circulate through the the world she created to experience the sounds and sights, guided by sonic and visual curiosity. Through the work, Ayalik hopes to provide a possible pathway to embolden others to reclaim and relearn languages that could soon be lost.