Lot 78
JESSIE OONARK, O.C., R.C.A. (1906-1985)
Additional Images
Literature:
Robert Enright, The Art of Jessie Oonark, Ceremonies of Innocence, Inuit art Quarterly, Winter 1987, page 3.
Note:
A central theme in Oonark’s artwork, shamanism was part of her heritage. Her grandfather and father were said to be shamans. “While her art is predisposed towards brightness, she was by no means unaware of the darker dimensions of the Inuit experience and Inuit imagination. She had a respectable shamanic pedigree, after all, and her grandmother warned her that ‘images could come to life in the dark of the night.’ Clearly, Oonark herself took special care to breathe life into the forms of a good number of those nocturnal images.”