Visual artist, author, teacher and school principal born in Ivujivik (Nunavik) in 1954.
Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk is a mother of four children, aunt and grandmother of several grandchildren. As a child, she was introduced to the arts of drawing, watercolour, stained glass and painting, a practice she abandoned for several years before returning to it in 2006 by participating in the Annual Nunavik Art Workshops in Kuujjuaq (Nunavik). In the following years, she participated again in this event, which took place in different Nunavik communities: in Quaqtaq (2008), in Inukjuak (2009) and in Ivujivik (2017).
Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk is also known for her involvement in the printing arts: she learned linocut with Montréal artist Lyne Bastien with whom she formed an artist collective, including Mary Paningajak Alaku and Passa Mangiok. Together, they set up a linocut workshop in Ivujivik (Nunavik). In 2017, she participated in a residency at the École nationale des Beaux-arts de Paris (France) with artists Mattiusi Iyaituk and Nancy Saunders (Niap). In September 2018, with Lyne Bastien, Mary Paningajak Alaku and Passa Mangiok, she presented the exhibition Convergence North/South at the Feheley Fine Arts Gallery in Toronto (Ontario). In the same year, Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk and her colleague and artist Kathryn Delaney curated the exhibition ᐃᓪᓕᕆᔭᕗᑦ Illirijavut: Our values that are precious, presented at the McClure Gallery of the Visual Arts Centre (Westmount, Québec). For this exhibition, Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk created a booklet of Inuit stories.
As an author, Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk has collaborated on several books for children: Nanuirtuq / Takusaijuk mikigianik (2017), Ippiajummut (2017), Iqalliatut (2017). In these illustrated works, she collaborated with other artists and authors seeking to preserve stories told as part of Inuit oral tradition, transmitting these stories, in writing, to future generations. Drawing on her experience in the education sector as a teacher and director, she has organized several watercolour book creation workshops in the communities of Inukjuak, Akulivik, Ivujivik, Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq, for which she received a grant from the Nunavik Arts and Literature Program four times: in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk illustrated the book Sipuuja Can Dress Herself on her Own (2017) by Inuit author Elsie Kasudluak.
To this day, Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk is still very much involved in the arts. In particular, she participated in the ᐃᓄᒐᒍᓪᓕᖅ L'inugagullirq project, which won the National Reading Award from the Québec Minister of Education in 2023.
Thanks to Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk and Julie Graff for their help which made it possible to complete this biography.