Lot 68
Unidentified
Additional Images
Note:
The underside of this special work reveals that it has been carved from a piece of a discarded qulliq (Inuit oil lamp). It also spells out a message or description in Inuktitut, “I am shaking too much, I might not hit it”, in reference to the polar bear hunters depicted on the opposite side. The use of the Qulliq could be a coincidence, an example of an artist using what is available to him, however one could also interpret the use of the qulliq as symbolic of the hunter’s desire for warmth and thus steadier hands.
The genius of this palm sized piece is not only in the quality of the carving itself but the set-up of the scene by the artist. He carves the subject of the hunt - the polar bears, as part of the surface that the hunters lie on, clearly representing what lies down the barrel of their rifles.
Translation by Sammy Kudluk of Avataq Cultural Institute / Inuit Art Foundation, 2015