John Tiktak

John Tiktak (1916 in Kareak camp – 1981) was a Canadian Inuk sculptor who spent most of his artistic career in Rankin Inlet. Most of his sculptures take the human form as their subject.

Tiktak lived a traditional Inuit lifestyle until he moved to Arviat (then known as Eskimo Point and also called Aqviat) in the 1950s. He moved to Rankin Inlet (also known as Kangiqilniq) in 1958, where he began to work as a sculptor in 1963.

His figurative work is minimal in style, and so is modern in appearance. Distinctive stylistic traits include very rounded forms and hands that are attached to the sides of the figure, so that the arms are circular in shape.

• Elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, 1973