Victoria Mamnguqsualuk is renowned for her depictions of Kiviuq, the immortal wandering hero whose story has been carried through generations of Arctic oral tradition and found vivid artistic expression among Baker Lake artists. Time and again, she gave Kiviuq form in a style that was unmistakably her own. Across drawings, prints, and works on cloth, she returned to scenes of the hero locked in confrontation with animals or hybrid beings. In this drawing, Kiviuq faces a many-headed, bear-like creature disguised in human form. An x-ray view of its stomach reveals the grim fate of earlier victims, both human and animal.

A hallmark of Mamnguqsualuk’s practice is the serial unfolding of a story within a single image. This drawing, executed in coloured pencil, is crisp and deliberate, relying on black and white with touches of colour to emphasize key elements. Charged with energy and taut with drama, it stands as a quintessential example of her narrative mastery.