Accession Number
1982.25.1
Title
Shaman
Object Type
print
Artist
Noah, William
Date Made
1971
Place Made
Canada: Nunavut, Baker Lake
Culture/Nationality
Inuit
Materials
ink on paper; stencil; stonecut
Measurements
overall: 94.5 cm x 64 cm
Description
A skeletal image of a shaman who is holding a drawn bow. It is a Shamanism power to view yourself as a skeleton. The book "The Coming and Going of the Shaman, Eskimo Shamanism and Art" produced by the Winnipeg Art…
A skeletal image of a shaman who is holding a drawn bow. It is a Shamanism power to view yourself as a skeleton. The book "The Coming and Going of the Shaman, Eskimo Shamanism and Art" produced by the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1978, describes this quest as follows: "Though no shaman can explain to himself how and why, he can, by the power his brain derives from the supernatural, as it were by thought alone, divest his body of its flesh and blood, so that nothing remains but his bones. And he must then name all the parts of his body, mention every single bone by name; and in so doing, he must not use ordinary human speech, but only the special and sacred shaman's language which he has learned from his instructor. By thus seeing himself naked, altogether freed from the perishable and transient flesh and blood, he consecrates himself, in the sacred tongue of the shamans, to his great task, through that part of his body which will longest withstand the action of sun, wind and weather, after he is dead" (7).
Edition Number
10/13
Credit Line
University Collections Capital Budget
Location
Print Study Centre
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Citation
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Page Citation for 1982.25.1 - Shaman
Page Citation
"1982.25.1 - Shaman, University of Alberta Museums Art Collection." University of Alberta Museums Search Site, https://search.museums.ualberta.ca/11-1390. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.