Help KWAG acquire Billy Gauthier’s 2024 sculpture A Beautiful Struggle to hold in public trust for the people of Waterloo Region!

For the benefit of current and future generations, the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (KWAG) collects, preserves, researches, interprets, and exhibits the visual arts. KWAG is the oldest, largest collecting public art gallery in Waterloo Region, with a Permanent Collection of over 4,400 artworks. This Collection demonstrates our commitment to Canadian art and artists; however, work by IBPOC (Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour) artists are under-represented in the collection. As an institution that champions the interplay of art and ideas, we acknowledge that KWAG’s effectiveness and relevance is enhanced when our collection reflects more diverse cultural narratives.

To this end, KWAG hopes to purchase Inuit artist Billy Gauthier's 2024 sculpture A Beautiful Struggle for the Permanent Collection.

About the Artwork:

A Beautiful Struggle is inspired by Gauthier's idol Kenojuak Ashevak and is the culmination of his immense technical and material knowledge. It reflects his commitment to the issues of the North, the realities of the North West River region in Labrador, and his belief in the power of art to bring people together with hope. Gauthier uses beauty as an initial visual seduction that helps viewers fall in love with his home, land and culture. The beauty doesn’t hide the real issues impacting cultural survival in the North, but provides an entry point for audiences to engage difficult subjects that are very much part of colonial relationships across these lands in 2024.

Appearing as one solid kelp, the vegetation in this sculpture is actually assembled through three separate pieces of caribou antler, seamlessly married in the hands of a true technician. Beyond this technical precision, though, is an analogy for the artist’s own artistic process and personal journey through life thus far. He notes that the things most worth doing are generally the things that are the most work. "It’s difficult for an air breathing bird to catch such a formidable prey as an agile fish amongst the tangled kelp," Gauthier says. "However, if it does, then this tasty morsel will provide what the loon needs to survive and thrive." 

Being a sculptor, Gauthier explains, is also a beautiful struggle:

"My process starts with love, then patience, sweat, ugly and dirty dust, frustration and a few smiles. It ends only when I’m sure the piece will capture enough attention that many viewers will fall in love and learn the lessons I intend the sculpture to provide. This process, my process, is a struggle from start to finish. A worthwhile and beautiful struggle."

If you visited KWAG between the dates of June 22-October 20^th, 2024, you saw this work in Sila—the largest exhibition of Gauthier’s work ever installed. The piece will cost approximately $28,000 and we are asking the public to aid in raising these funds while the Gallery's staff look into other sources of funding.

If this work resonated with you, help KWAG acquire it for the Permanent Collection. This will ensure that you and yours can view this outstanding work of art locally for years to come.

If our acquisition is successful, Gauthier will return to Waterloo Region for a third time, offering additional specialized workshops and outreach opportunities. As a thank you for contributing to this campaign, donors that provide contact information will be invited to an Acquisition Party for A Beautiful Struggle. Donations of more than $50 will also be acknowledged on the Gallery’s donor screen for one year after the work is acquired.

For more information or other ways to donate, contact our Development Coordinator Morgan Anderson at manderson@kwag.on.ca or 519-579-5860 x221.

About the Artist:

Billy Gauthier (b. 1978, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL) is an artist and activist of Inuit ancestry currently residing in North West River, Labrador. He was drawing and making art from a young age and began to carve in 1996 after meeting his cousin John Terriak, a renowned Inuit sculptor. Gauthier’s work is widely recognized for his tremendous skill with traditional materials and the extent to which he pushes himself and his materials’ limits.

His sculptures have narrative qualities that are inspired by personal memories, Inuit cosmologies and mutual respect for the land and its natural resources. Gauthier describes a strong link between his experiences on the land and his art practice. “I'm constantly trying to change my style and learn new ways to manipulate the materials,” he says. “I've always been evolving and changing. I'm curious what's around the corner. Whenever I go hunting and fishing, I'm usually the annoying person to take out because I never want to leave. And that's the way I look at my artwork, too. What else can I create? How far can I push the materials?”

He has received many accolades for his work, including being named Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council (NLAC) Emerging Artist of the Year in 2011. His work has been collected by many passionate individuals as well as by public and private institutions across the country. Gauthier is represented by Nigel Reading, (formerly of Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia).

Main Photo Description:

Billy Gauthier, A Beautiful Struggle, 2024. Antler (Caribou), serpentine, horn (Muskox), ivory (Woolly Mammoth), Labradorite. 26 x 18 x 18 inches // 66 x 46 x 46 cm. Photo by Mathew McCarthy, Waterloo Region Record.