Kinngait

Kinngait (Inuktitut meaning 'high mountain' or 'where the hills are'; Syllabics: ᑭᙵᐃᑦ or ᑭᖖᒉᑦ), known as Cape Dorset until 27 February 2020, is an Inuit hamlet located on Dorset Island near Foxe Peninsula at the southern tip of Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada.

Kinngait, previously Cape Dorset and Sikusiilaq before that is where the remains of the Thule (Early Inuit) and pre-Inuit Dorset people (Tuniit) were discovered, who lived between 1000 BCE and 1100 CE. The European name of Cape Dorset was given by Captain Luke Foxe after Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset, on 24 September 1631. The Inuit originally called the inlet Sikusiilaq, after the area of sea ocean nearby that remains ice-free all winter. Hudson's Bay Company set up a trading post here in 1913, where they traded furs and skins for supplies such as tobacco, ammunition, flour, gas, tea and sugar.

In December 2019, the residents of Cape Dorset voted in favour of a request to officially rename the hamlet to its Inuktitut name of Kinngait. Voters chose between Kinngait, Sikusiilaq, and the English name of Cape Dorset.

Since the 1950s, Kinngait, which calls itself the "Capital of Inuit Art", has been a centre for drawing, printmaking, and carving. In the 21st century, printmaking and carving continue to be the community's main economic activities. Each year, Kinngait Studios issues an annual print collection. Kinngait has been hailed as the most artistic community in Canada, with some 22% of the labour force employed in the arts.

In 1957, James Archibald Houston created a graphic arts workshop in Kinngait, in a program sponsored by the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources. It was considered a way for the community to generate income by adapting traditional art forms to contemporary techniques. Houston collected drawings from community artists and encouraged local Inuit stone carvers to apply their skills to stone-block printing, in order to create art that might be more widely sold and distributed. The print program was modelled after Japanese ukiyo-e workshops. Other cooperative print shops were established in nearby communities, but the Kinngait workshop has remained the most successful. The artists have experimented with etching, engraving, lithography, and silkscreen. Known as the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, or the Kinngait Co-operative, they produce annual catalogues advertising the limited edition prints.

Between the years of 1959 and 1974, Kinngait artists produced more than 48,000 prints. Well-known artists of Kinngait include Pitseolak Ashoona, Nuna Parr, Pudlo Pudlat, Angotigolu Teevee, Alashua Aningmiuq, Kiugak Ashoona, Ulayu Pingwartok, Oopik Pitsuilak, Innukjuakju Pudlat, Mary Qayuaryuk, Anirnik Oshuitoq, and Kenojuak Ashevak. Parr's carvings are internationally recognized and his work is exhibited in the National Gallery of Canada. Ashevak's drawings of owls have been chosen to appear on Canadian stamps as well as a Canadian quarter.

Inuk carver, artist, photographer and author Peter Pitseolak spent several years living in Kinngait. The local junior-senior high school was named for him.

In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Kinngait had a population of 1,396 living in 362 of its 416 total private dwellings, a change of -3.1% from its 2016 population of 1,441. With a land area of 9.89 km² (3.82 sq mi), it had a population density of 141.2/km² (365.6/sq mi) in 2021.