Image

Print of three figures on the ground with various pronged tools. Above them are two goats with long horns facing each other. The central figure points upwards towards the goats.

Pitseolak Ashoona

Caribou Hunt

Description

Maker

Pitseolak Ashoona (Inuit, ca. 1904-1983)
Iyola Kingwatsiak (Canadian, 1933 - 2000), printer

Culture

Inuit

Title

Caribou Hunt

Year

1964

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

stone cut, stencil (tool)

Supports

Dimensions

Plate/Image: 33 x 51.4 cm (13 x 20 1/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed and dated in pencil at LR:Pitseolak 1964; other inscriptions in pencil at LL and LC. Cape Dorset community stamp at LL.

Marks: Wet stamp at LL (artist's stamp and coop stamp).

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Houston

Object Number

77.148.3

Type

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Being and Believing in the Natural World
Perspectives from the Ancient Mediterranean, Asia, and Indigenous North America
Oct 22, 2022 – Jun 04, 2023

Label copy

Pitseolak Ashoona is celebrated for her scenes of the “old life” in Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin Island), where she lived in the traditional Inuit way. She combined expressive linework and joy with Qaujimajatuqangit— an Inuktitut phrase for “things we have always known, things crucial to survival”—to transmit traditional knowledge during a time of rapid change in the 20th century.

—Cecilia Ammon, Mellon Curatorial Intern in Native American Art

Related Publications

Related Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 18: Nature

 RISD Museum’s Manual 18 Celebrates Nature

In our [Chamoru] culture, inafa’maolek is our most important value. It roughly translates as “to make good for each other.” Inafa’maolek teaches us that all things are connected and related, including people, environments, and all species. Because all things are interwoven, we must always act with guinaiya and respetu, love and respect.  

–Craig Santos Perez, introduction

Manual 18 explores human interactions with the natural world, from frank awe and deep appreciation of the immediate moment to eternal questions and ancient unfinished business. This issue of Manual complements the exhibition Being and Believing in the Natural World, co-curated by Gina Borromeo, Wai Yee Chiong, and Sháńdíín Brown, on view at the RISD Museum now through May 7, 2023.

Use & Feedback

Image use

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This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Pitseolak Ashoona (Inuit, ca. 1904-1983)
Iyola Kingwatsiak (Canadian, 1933 - 2000), printer
Caribou Hunt, 1964
Stonecut with stencil on rice paper
Plate/Image: 33 x 51.4 cm (13 x 20 1/4 inches)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Houston 77.148.3

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