This work has been reproduced and examined in several important publications. In Inuit Woman Artists (1996, p. 29), Odette Leroux describes the print as an example “of her [Pitseolak’s] expressionism, [its] intensity heightened by the choice of voluminous shapes and the evocative power of the tattoos.”

In the Art Canada Institute volume Pitseolak Ashoona: Life & Work, Christine Lalonde writes of The Shaman’s Wife, "In this gripping image Pitseolak strikes a balance between the familiar and the otherworldly. The figure of the shaman’s wife boldly faces the viewer and exudes a powerful sense of mystery, yet equal attention is given to the details of her traditional clothing and facial tattoos."

The title of the work leaves open the question of whether this is simply the wife of a shaman, or whether the figure herself is a shaman. To our eye, Pitseolak’s imagery insists on the second. Her eyes tip upward, the pupils nearly lost, as though she is seized by an inward force. Her mouth is parted, and its stencilled cherry red interior catches the viewer’s eye immediately. From the mouth, a line rises toward a blue bird above. This bird, in turn, answers with lines issuing from its own beak. The connection is direct and deliberate. We suggest that this not mere decoration, it is dialogue. Traditionally, shamans are known to speak with animals, to meet them in messages and meanings beyond ordinary speech and here, that exchange is made visual.