Additional Images

Provenance:

Esther Atkin Ruben Collection, Toronto, ON;
Private Collection, Toronto, ON

Literature:

Piqtoukun, David Ruben, Tom Skudra, The Storytellers (Toronto: The Koffler Gallery, 1988)

Note:

Piqtoukun often depicts Shamans as well as Sedna, the Mother of the Sea, in Inuit mythology. This Sedna’s face is marked by tunniit (ᑐᓃᑦ), the traditional facial tattoos worn by Inuit women which denote the individual’s transition to womanhood. Emily Henderson, writing about one of Piqtoukun’s Sednas in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, explains that “her hands, at first glance, appear like flippers, but on closer inspection, it becomes clear they are the hands of a woman, with her fingers severed at the knuckle. The moment when Sedna’s fingers are cut is a key moment in the story of her birth into a goddess. While there are many regional variations on the story, we know from oral tradition that Sedna’s fingers were cut off as she clung to the side of a boat and later fell into the water. Once in the water, she transformed into the sea mammals, and made herself a new home at the bottom of the sea…The story continues that, without her fingers, Sedna could not comb and braid her hair. She relied on Shamans to make the trip down to the bottom of the sea to help her.”

Of this particular Sedna, Piqtoukun tells the story:

“Two brothers had set out on a caribou hunt. After several days they had not returned, so search parties were sent to check the coast line and trace the movements of the brothers. The searchers found one body on a sandspit bar. The other body was never found. In a ceremony one day; Sedna, who lives at the bottom of the sea, was summoned and asked to search for the missing brother. Sedna is always available, and is generous when summoned. Her face shows patience and compassion.”