Laakkuluk Williamson: Nuliaminik Neqilik (The Flesh of Wives)

An immersive virtual exhibition presented by Art Gate in collaboration with York University

Laakkuluk Williamson, Nuliaminik Neqilik (The Flesh of Wives), installation view, Mimosa House, London, 2026. Photo: Christa Holka.

Virtual Exhibition Opening and Live Artist Talk
Thursday, October 29, 2026, 7pm ET | RSVP Here
With artist Laakkuluk Williamson and curator Taqralik Partridge in attendance
Free admission | Registration required | Limited capacity

The Exhibition Continues

First presented at Mimosa House in London, ᓄᓕᐊᒥᓂᒃ ᓂᕿᓕᒃ / Nuliaminik Neqilik (The Flesh of Wives), the first solo visual art exhibition by Kalaaleq (Greenlandic Inuk) artist Laakkuluk Williamson, continues in Art Gate.

Curated by Inuk artist Taqralik Partridge, the exhibition examines Inuit identity, repatriation, and agency over belongings, bodies and territories through installation, sculpture, storytelling and performance.

Recreated as an immersive digital environment after its London presentation, the exhibition opens in Art Gate on October 29 with a live artist talk by Laakkuluk and Taqralik in attendance.

Visitors can move through the recreated Mimosa House galleries using a browser on a computer or phone, with no app or headset required. Compatible VR equipment is optional.

The Flesh of Wives

At the centre of the exhibition is the Greenlandic story of Igimaarasussuaq, a cannibal who ate the flesh of his wives, and Masaannaaq, his last wife, who grew to an immense size and took revenge.

Laakkuluk repositions Masaannaaq as an emancipated protagonist, examining body image, strength and the right to take up space through sculpture, images and performance.

Three enlarged recreations of Inuit women’s belongings, a comb, needle and doll, refer to originals held by the British Museum. The artist and curator called their presentation in London a “small revolutionary act.”

“It was important for us to present this work in London, in conversation with Inuit belongings held in a major institution whose history is entwined with the colonization of Inuit homelands,” said curator Taqralik Partridge.

On April 24, Laakkuluk performed at the British Museum with New Tribe Collective, moving from the Great Court toward the North America Gallery. The performance combined storytelling in Greenlandic and English with uaajeerneq, Greenlandic mask dance.

Laakkuluk Williamson, performance at the British Museum, London, April 24, 2026. Photo: Christa Holka.

From London to Art Gate

Art Gate’s team 3D scanned the installed works at Mimosa House in April and reconstructed the gallery, allowing audiences to encounter the original exhibition layout after its London presentation.

The physical exhibition opens at Nuuk Art Museum, Greenland, on October 22, 2026, before travelling to SAW in Ottawa in 2027. Nuuk is a homecoming for Laakkuluk, whose maternal family is from Maniitsoq.

“Repatriation is the subject of this exhibition, so we were careful about what our technology claims to do,” said Justin O’Heir, Founder and CEO of Art Gate. “A scan is not a return. What it can do is let an Inuk teenager in Iqaluit stand inside a London gallery, months after the show closed. Access should not depend on your postal code or a shipping budget.”

Laakkuluk Williamson, Nuliaminik Neqilik (The Flesh of Wives), digital exhibition view in Art Gate, 2026. Image: Art Gate.

Digital Curation and Cultural Sovereignty

The exhibition is connected to York University’s Curating Indigenous Circumpolar Cultural Sovereignty research program, supported by SSHRC and CFI.

Anna Hudson, Professor of Visual Art and Art History at York University, explains:

“The re-creation of the exhibition in VR on Art Gate is part of the Curating Reconciliation through XR Immersive Technologies project at York University supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Through Art Gate we can create a space for people to come together who do not normally meet, allowing settler and diaspora populations to spend time with Inuit artists, storytellers, and community members. Facilitating connections and relationship building is essential for decolonial worldbuilding. Digital curation in VR is a new field of opportunity to amplify Indigenous voices and bear palpable witness to non-western epistemes.”

The collaboration brings artists, researchers and audiences together across geographical distances, extending the exhibition’s reach without replacing its physical presentation.

About the Artist and Curator

Laakkuluk Williamson is a Kalaaleq (Greenlandic Inuk) artist based in Iqaluit, working across performance, storytelling and visual art. Known for uaajeerneq, she received the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award in 2018 and the Sobey Art Award in 2021.

Taqralik Partridge is an Inuk artist and curator whose Inuit-first practice prioritizes Inuit languages and creative expression. She previously served as Associate Curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario and directed SAW’s Nordic Lab.

Enter the Exhibition

Enter Art Gate for a live artist talk with Laakkuluk Williamson, with curator Taqralik Partridge in attendance.

Experience the exhibition together and hear directly from the artist. RSVP Here.

About Art Gate

Art Gate is a Toronto-based platform for immersive 3D exhibitions accessible through a single link, connecting audiences with art beyond the gallery.

Acknowledgements

York University research collaboration supported by SSHRC and CFI. VR re-creation supported by CFI through Curating Reconciliation through XR Immersive Technologies.

Original exhibition: Mimosa House, London. Tour: Nuuk Art Museum, Greenland, and SAW, Ottawa.

Website: artgatevr.com

Accessibility: Browser-based digital exhibition, no app or headset required.

Image Descriptions
1. Installation view of Laakkuluk Williamson’s exhibition at Mimosa House, London. A large image of a masked figure occupies the left wall, while red and pink fabric elements hang in an adjacent gallery space.
2. Laakkuluk Williamson performs at the British Museum in London, wearing a black dress with red and pink fabric draped around her arms. She raises her hands toward her face as an audience watches from the museum’s steps.
3. Digital recreation of the exhibition in Art Gate, showing a white-walled gallery with wooden floors. A large photographic artwork depicting a snowy landscape occupies the left wall, with additional artworks visible along the right.