Lot 12
David Ruben Piqtoukun ᑎᕕᑎ ᐱᑐᑯ ᕈᐱᐃᓐ (b. 1950)
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Victoria, BC
Note:
The joy of hearing stories told by his mother and grandmother about shamanism and traditional beliefs influenced a young David Ruben Piqtoukun and has spawned images recurring throughout the artist's career. One such image, the image of a winged shaman, occurs with particular frequency in the oeuvres of Piqtoukun and his brother Abraham Anghik. The subject is said to originate in the supposed otherworldly travels of their grandfather and grandmother, reputed shaman.[1] Notably the figure in the present work bears the kakiniit (tattoos) commonly worn by women of Piqtoukun’s grandmother’s generation.
[1] Darlene Coward Wight, Between Two Worlds: David Ruben Piqtoukun (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Gallery of Art, 1996), 3.