Inuit artist Annie Pootoogook has been identified as the woman found dead Monday in Ottawa’s Rideau River.

The body of Pootoogook, 46, was spotted in the water around 8:50 a.m. Monday near Bordeleau Park in Lowertown, near the Ontario-Quebec border. An autopsy was performed later in the week to confirm her identity; Ottawa police identified Pootoogook in a news release Friday.

Pootoogook, born in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, was an acclaimed, award-winning contemporary Inuit artist best known for her frank, ink-and-crayon drawings of contemporary northern life. Her work was reflective of her own life and community, at times chronicling her experience of physical and sexual abuse and living with relatives suffering from alcoholism.

In 2006, Pootoogook won the Sobey Art Award, beating out four other shortlisted artists from across Canada for the $50,000 prize. The same year, her work was exhibited at a landmark show at Toronto’s Power Plant Gallery, the first time Canada’s pre-eminent contemporary art venue had held a major show by an Inuit. In 2007 she took part in Documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany, a prestigious, invitation-only art exhibition — held once every five years — that defines the current state of contemporary and modern art. Pootoogook’s Toronto dealer, Pat Feheley, said at the time that it was the first time that an Inuit artist had been invited to participate.

Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna offered his condolences to Pootoogook’s family Friday afternoon on Twitter.

And Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo tweeted that Canada had “lost great artist & great woman.”

The Sobey Art Foundation issued a statement late Friday that said “Annie’s spirit shone through her work and she has left a tremendous legacy to the Canadian cultural fabric.”

Police say foul play is not suspected in Pootoogook’s death but are asking anyone who may have seen her leading up to Sept. 19 to contact the Major Crime Unit at 613-236-1222 ext. 5493.

Correction - September 26, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the body was found in the Rideau Canal.



With files from The Canadian Press