Jessie Oonark
	Inuit, Baker Lake, 1906-1985
	The Fishmaker Made Kiviuk a Fish, 1981
	Stencil, 15/40
	25 x 37 in
	Gift anonymous donor 1986
	1986.832

    This image relays an episode from the story of Kiviuq, the fearless Inuit traveler, who encounters many adventures in his travels. Legends outlining Kiviuq's adventures vary from region to region throughout the arctic. In this work, Oonark relays an episode where Kiviuq is looking for his wife and children. During the course of this search, he comes across a fish-maker who agrees to carve him a large fish that will carry him across the ocean to look for his family. "The speed of the giant fish is depicted by the repetition of several legs under its belly. The figure of Kiviuq is repeated to follow the fish-maker's instruction to slip off quickly as the fish reaches the opposite shore."¹

© Lenore Lindeman 1999.

¹Bernadette Driscoll, "Tatoos, Hairsticks and Ulus: The Graphic Art of Jessie Oonark," Arts Manitoba, (Fall 1984), 19.