This sculpture depicts Dogfish Woman, sometimes known as Shark Woman, a figure from Haida oral history. Taken by Dogfish to his underwater home, the woman herself eventually becomes a dogfish before returning to her human family and bringing the Dogfish crest with her.

In this work, Samuels cleverly gathers the elements from the story into the body of the sculpture. Her bent arms and hands, the red creases across her broad forehead, pointed teeth, elliptical pupils, and sweeping tail all signal her transformed state. On her back, a bearded face may represent her human husband, who searched for her throughout her absence.

The carving is powerfully worked, its forms packed closely together and enlivened by a dense accumulation of incisions and inlay. Smooth stone gives way to scored skin and sharp edges. sharpened ridges and shallow cuts that catch against the fingertips when admired in the hand.

FA