From an impromptu high school hallway display to being published in the news, Ayla Kreelak’s comic art has been a remarkable journey. Ilumigarjuk is a 23 year old Inuk multi-disciplinary artist from Baker Lake, Nunavut. Kreelak has been drawing since she was 13 and near the end of high school career, internet news and a magazine were publishing her comics. She works a part time job now and makes art on a freelance basis. She does sewing and graphic design, too.

Her family and members of her school community were very supportive of her art when she got started. Kreelak was inspired by a Marvel Comic, Snowguard, and she started putting up three-panel comics in her school hallway. Months later, her comics were being published in Nunatsiaq News.

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Kreelak was the first in her family to graduate from high school and she tried an online art program but found it wasn’t a fit for her. Her development as an artist has been otherwise informal. Her advice for Indigenous students considering pursuing art is,

"Just putting yourself out there is probably the most important part, even if you're not as good as you think you are, or if you feel like you're not very experienced with your craft, it still matters in getting the exposure so that you can connect with more people. They could either teach you how to do stuff in your craft or improve on it. You could get job opportunities, opportunities with post secondary, and lots of other things.

The other advice Kreelak has for aspiring artists and artists who live in Nunavut is that the best time to make connections with people from the South is in the summer. It’s when many people are travelling for various reasons and it’s a good time for networking as an artist, she’s found.

When it comes to obstacles, Kreelak struggled with not having a stable internet connection and having to save up to get a data connection to be able to have internet at home. If she could give a message to her younger self who was just starting out in graphic design it would be, “Do some painting more, or save up to buy a room at one of the offices here for a studio or just save up.”

To manage her mental wellness, Kreelak practices traditional activities, particularly during the longer winter months when there isn’t as much light. Walking her dog or taking care of her dog was very important for her mental health before her dog had to be rehomed. She’s feeling an inspirational block lately when it comes to making art so speaking to her sources of inspiration would have been a lot easier years ago, but she normally finds inspiration in watching movies or reading books or graphic novels. After consuming media made by other people, she thinks about what she liked about it and that helps her in making her own art.

Her art started close to home in her high school hallway and ended up in homes all over, published in Nunatsiaq News. Ayla Kreelak was inspired by Marvel’s Snowguard and came to develop a comic style all her own. After overcoming Northern technical barriers, she has been able to share her talents with the world and shine from the place she calls home.