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Kenojuak Ashevak

Title Unknown, 1962

Description

Maker

  • Kenojuak Ashevak, 1927 - 2013, Canadian (Inuit)

Culture

Inuit

Title

Title Unknown

Year

1962

Medium

Engraving on paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • engraving

Supports

  • Rives paper

Dimensions

Plate/Image: 22.7 x 30.3 cm (8 15/16 x 11 15/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed and dated at LR in pencil:Kenojuak '62; at left:Artist Proof V

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Houston

Object Number

76.204

About

First Nations artist Kenojuak Ashevak is known for her imaginative interpretation of birds, which are often realized as symmetrical designs. This mirror-image depiction also includes hybrid sea creatures along the bottom. Ashevak’s imagery emerged as she worked: “I just took these things out of my thoughts and out of my imagination.” Kalaaleq multidisciplinary artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory acknowledges Ashevak’s importance in her poem “I am the light of happiness,” excerpted here:

Qinnuajuaq and her owls and birds burst into the international scene
When Canadians needed someone from the land,
with indigeneity to give a non-verbal Canadian identity.
Not only did she give us this identity,
She gave us a whole new world to gaze upon.

*Qinnuajuaq is an alternative spelling for Kenojuak

Signed and dated at LR in pencil:Kenojuak '62; at left:Artist Proof V

{"61131":"Previous attribution"}

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Title Unknown with the accession number of 76.204. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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