Inuit

Basalt

Basalt, Antler

1973

“A remarkably animated work for the artist whose style is comparable to his father’s (John Kavik). In an interview with the artist in 1993, which appeared in the winter edition of the Inuit Art Quarterly, Ugjuk describes the difficulty he had in deciding what to carve. This may be why there are not many of his works available on the market. Both Kavik and Ugjuk were self-taught artists and took to carving whenever they were not hunting.”

“Ugluk says, ‘I would try to concentrate on an idea of mine and gradually expand on it as I went along which would lead to some comprehensible form for the carving I was working on. And, other times, it seemed that trying to stay with one idea didn’t always work so, rather than getting stuck with one idea, I would just work on a carving and what it would become’.”

Marble

As goddess of the ocean, Sedna sets strict rules about the proper way to treat the animals of the hunt, which the Inuit require for sustenance. This includes proper treatment of the animals’ spirit when killed for food. If she feels the rules have been broken, she cuts off the supply of food. When this happens, the Inuit tribal shaman is required to take a mystical journey to the bottom of the ocean to speak to the goddess. It is considered the most dangerous journey an Inuit shaman is called upon to make.

Upon arrival at the bottom of the sea the shaman is required to comb Sedna’s hair, because Sedna has no fingers to comb it herself, and to find out what the tribe has done wrong that the food has been cut off. The shaman then makes a deal with Sedna, promising that if the tribe corrects whatever transgressions it has made, the goddess will return their food supply. The shaman then returns to the tribe with the list of things the goddess requires to be done to get the food back.