Dark grey-green stone

JOHNASSIE IQALUQ (1934-d)

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SANIKILUAQ, Shaman, ca. 1955

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Dark grey-green stone

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6.375 x 5 x 1.125 in, 16.2 x 12.7 x 2.9 cm,

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Signed in syllabics

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Exhibited and illustrated in Bernadette Driscoll et al, Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art (Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1985), cat. no. 76 in the section "Uumajut: Symbol of Spiritual Power."

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Illustrated in Harold Seidelman and James Turner, The Inuit Imagination: Arctic Myth and Sculpture, 1993, fig. 21, p. 46.

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Exhibited in The Inuit Imagination travelling exhibition (WAG, 1993-94). ). Exhibited in Immaginario Inuit (Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy, 1995).

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Condition Notes: The shamanistic content of this work is not particularly overt, but instead is marked by ambiguity. This represents an angakoq (shaman) infused by a powerful polar bear helping spirit. It appears almost as if the shaman might be wearing a bear suit, or at least a parka whose hood sprouts bear's ears. There is ambiguity of gender, and even ambiguity of front and back; the penis could be read as the tail of the bear. The gesture of one hand facing forward while the other faces back has shamanic connotations as well. Also note that the there are six digits on each hand. In its understated way, this is a very potent image.