Aron of Kangeq

Aron of Kangeq (Greenlandic: Aalut Kangermiu) was an Inuk hunter, painter and printmaker born in Kangeq, South Greenland, in 1822, who died in 1869. He is regarded as an important early figure in the development of Greenlandic art, and his images document Inuit culture and the often violent encounters between Inuit and Danish settlers.

Tuberculosis left him unable to work regularly as a hunter, and he began to draw. In 1858 the Danish administrator Hinrich Johannes Rink invited Greenlanders to submit drawings, maps and written accounts of their traditions and history. Rink recognised Aron's talent and supplied him with materials so he could keep working.

He worked mainly in small watercolours and woodcuts, and some of the woodcuts illustrated Rink's newspaper Atuagagdliutit, one of the earliest newspapers published in Greenland. His pictures show traditional stories, hunting scenes and everyday life in the nineteenth century, and he often added written captions explaining the scene or the tale being told.

His work attracted little attention during his lifetime. In the twentieth century, the archaeologist Eigil Knuth helped bring renewed interest in his drawings and prints.