Far above the Northwest Passage in Baffin Bay lies Mittimatalik, a place whose coastal waters are home to a variety of Arctic sea life. There is little wonder that whales and their bones have been a primary material for artists in the region, including Billy Merkosak. Best known for his evocative works made from whalebone, both big and small, there is a sense of the past to be found in his pieces. Merkosak likes to connect the past and the present in his work, taking inspiration from both legends and stories told by elders and from the archaeological artefacts of the North. Given the region's approximately four thousand years of land use, including hunting and fishing on land, sea, and ice, there is certainly plenty of material to inspire his work.

Emerging from the bone itself, figures and animals make themselves known in Encounter Between Human, Animal and Spirit Worlds. Tattoo lines point like arrows to open, singing mouths, while sharp eyes stare from between flippers and beaks and around protruding tusks. As figures seem to float up and out from a central figure, that figure's elongated ears and hair hint at the supernatural. On the verso, large, almost angelic wings spread across the bone, their feathers almost a distraction from the large, taloned feet aimed at you and the two owl heads between the wings. It's as if you have been warned of this creature's presence by the figures throughout the work, a chorus to be heeded, carved in bone.

AC