Canada’s National Inuit women’s organization put a call-out for seamstresses to design a series of amautiit to honour Inuit women and girls who are missing or were murdered.
Pauktuutiit Inuit Women of Canada recently launched its Red Amauti Project, which will fund the creation of an amauti for each of the four regions of Inuit Nunangat: Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut and Inuvialuit.
The Red Amauti is an Inuit-focused initiative that draws from the REDress Project, a 2011 art installation developed by Métis artist Jaime Black, who collected 600 red dresses from across the country as a memorial to missing and murdered Indigenous women.
The amauti is a traditional Inuit women’s parka fitted with a hood, used for carrying infants.
The design of the amauti varies across Inuit Nunangat, Kudloo said, from the size of the baby’s pouch to the design of the hem and the different types of embellishments used, such as fringe or beading.
Inuit seamstresses or groups had until Sept. 10 to submit their design bid.
The seamstresses that Pauktuutit selects to create the amautiit will have until January 2022 to complete their projects.
Pauktuutit hasn’t yet determined where the red amautiit will be displayed.
Kudloo said they could be put up in community centres or gathering places, or the parkas could tour through the different regions.
Heather Angnatok of Nain, Nunatsiavut was selected to be one of the seamstresses for the Red Amauti.