Collections

B228 – “Man Dancing with Seal to Help his Family” (2023)

CAD$ 6,750 (+GST/HST if applicable, packing, insurance, shipping)

Artist: Manasie Akpaliapik (1955 – cont.) of Ikpiarjuk, Nunavut and Ontario

Signature: Signed in Inuktitut syllabics to bottom

Medium: Weathered whalebone, xxx ivorywhale vertebra

Dimensions: H: 13.5” x W: 16.0” x D: 10.75

Condition: Excellent

The man is being friendly to the seal, being nice. Just like our ancestors had to be nice to Taliillajuuq in order to be allowed to have whatever they needed to survive. In the older days, people – or shamans, to be exact – would get themselves tied up with rope and be covered in caribou skin, to leave their body, assuming the form of a walrus. Often they would dive down to tidy up Taliillajuuq’s domain.