Shirley Moorhouse

Shirley Moorhouse was born in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Nunatsiavut (Labrador), where she currently lives. Her career spans almost three decades of innovative artistic production, community advocacy, and service to organizations that support Inuit artists.

Moorhouse’s sculptures and wall hangings incorporate traditional methods and materials, such as embroidery, beading, smoke-tanned hides, furs and wool, together with unconventional items such as shells, plastic, wires, locks, pins and electronics. Her wall hangings are meticulously handstitched, with dynamic imagery that often appears dream-like or fantastical. Through this unique visual language, Moorhouse explores themes of ecology, Inuit identity, spirituality and cultural continuity. She gently challenges viewers to be more aware of Labrador’s ever-changing natural, social and geopolitical boundaries.

Before creating any work, be it wall hanging, painting, poetry or a garden, Moorhouse says that she “mindfully offers the Multiverse prayers of thankfulness, peace, wholeness and healing.” Bringing people together through visual stories, her artwork acknowledges how we are all interconnected.

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Shirley Moorhouse lives in Goose Bay, Labrador. Her maternal Grandmother, Anana, named her E-Ye-I, translated from Inuktitut, meaning Eyes. As a young child she watched her extended family create clothing, objects and household items of form, function and beauty. Moorhouse was recognized with a solo exhibition organized by the Rooms at the Labrador Interpretation Centre in 2010, and her work has been featured in history-making exhibitions including a new commission for the opening exhibition of Qaumajug/Winnipeg Art Gallery, INUA: Inuit Nunangat Ungammmuaktut Atautikkut (Inuit Moving Forward Together) (2020); the nationally travelling exhibition and catalogue SakKijajuk: Art and Craft from Nunatsiavut (2017), and Inoqatigiinneq: Sharing Life (2010) as part of the Inuit Circumpolar Assembly, Katuaq Cultural Centre, Nuuk, Greenland.

An early advocate for Nunatsiavummiut artists, Moorhouse founded the Komatik Box Art and Craft Collective in Goose Bay in 1996, to create access to new opportunities in the region. She has also served on the Board of Directors for the Inuit Art Foundation (2006-2012), and the Nunakatiget Inuit Community Corporation (2006-2010).