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1985.29.9 - Untitled

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Object Typedrawing ArtistMamnguksualuk, Victoria Date Made1973

Item Details

Object Typedrawing ArtistMamnguksualuk, Victoria Date Made1973
Accession Number 1985.29.9 Title Untitled Object Type drawing Artist Mamnguksualuk, Victoria Date Made 1973 Place Made Canada: Nunavut, Baker Lake Culture/Nationality Inuit Materials coloured graphite and graphite on paper Measurements mat: 71.1 x 91.4 cm; overall: 65 x 85 cm; sheet / image: 55.8 x 76.5 cm Description
Characteristic of Qamani’tuaq’s focus on shamanism and myth, Victoria Mamnguqsualuk’s print depicts a fragment from an Inuit tale about the origins of European people. Anthropologist Franz Boas notes that it is…
Characteristic of Qamani’tuaq’s focus on shamanism and myth, Victoria Mamnguqsualuk’s print depicts a fragment from an Inuit tale about the origins of European people. Anthropologist Franz Boas notes that it is a variation of a tale common to indigenous people throughout North America and Greenland. A summary of the story first published by Boas in 1889 in "The Journal of American Folklore" goes as follows: After his daughter refuses to take a husband and elects instead to marry a dog, a man banishes his shameful half-canine grandchildren to an island. Since the children are unable to feed themselves, the man brings game to the island for them. The man then tricks and drowns his dog son-in-law. In an act of revenge, the daughter sends her children to gnaw off their grandfather’s hands and feet. Fearful of retribution, the daughter sends her children inland, where they become the ancestors of numerous people. (Source: "Sanaunguabik: Ideas and Transformations in Inuit Art" exhibition didactic material, October 1 - December 21, 2013)
Credit Line University Collections Capital Budget; U/CSP Fund; Alma Mater Art Acquisitions Fund Location Print Study Centre

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"1985.29.9 - Untitled, University of Alberta Museums Art Collection." University of Alberta Museums Search Site, https://search.museums.ualberta.ca/11-867. Accessed 22 Mar. 2025.