Kananginak Pootoogook’s composition gathers the essentials of traditional Inuit life into a single, harmonious scene. In front of the snow house, a dog curls up in rest, while a qamutik sits elevated on snow blocks, its placement both practical and symbolic of preparation. The raised platform stores meat safely above the reach of animals, and skin lines drape neatly atop the snow house to keep them out of the dogs’ eager jaws. The imagery extends beyond winter: a sealskin tent, a kayak, and an umiak stand as quiet witnesses to summer’s labours. Together, these elements form more than a catalogue of tools; they evoke a lived world of resourcefulness and balance. Drawn directly onto the lithographic stone [1], the work reflects Kananginak’s deep familiarity with these cycles of life and his ability to distil them into a scene at once documentary and deeply personal.

1. Goetz, 1977, p. 132.

This work is reproduced in Helga Goetz, The Inuit Print, international travelling exhibition, (Ottawa: National Museums of Canada and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1977), pl. 73, p. 132