Oviloo Tunnillie, like her brother Jutai Toonoo (Lot 93), was one of Kinngait’s most innovative artists. She used the most traditional of media, sculpture in local stone, to depict subjects taken from her own life. She was notably the first woman sculptor from Kinngait to gain widespread recognition for an art that was traditionally designated to men. Oviloo took advantage of the medium – so often used to depict male hunters or animals – to give voice to the woman’s point of view and experience. Powerful depictions of women, including self-portraits, grieving mothers, tuberculosis nurses, nude torsos, and many more, dominated her work.

In this serene sculpture, a woman is depicted resting or sleeping peacefully, as indicated by her subtly upturned mouth resulting in a light smile. The artist manages to take this mundane subject matter and elevate it to a fully resolved, masterful composition. The beauty of this piece lies in Oviloo’s ability to convey emotion. Oviloo’s female subjects in mourning or distress have been considered highlights of her oeuvre, but subjects conveying happiness or delight also exist. Here, the woman appears to be enjoying a rest, perhaps after a long day – possibly on her couch at home, inside her summer tent, or in a hotel bed during travels down South (Oviloo had depicted travels to Toronto previously) [1]. Through the isolation of subject allowed by the sculptural medium, the context of a scene can be left up to the interpretation of the viewer, especially if the artist has not titled or interviewed about their work.

The subject of the resting, tired, or sleeping woman has been depicted by Oviloo several times, though each example has been styled differently. See Tired Woman from 2008, which depicts a woman almost desperately hugging a pillow, reflective of the artist’s experience undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer [2].

1. See Wight, Oviloo, 2016, cat. 24, p. 37.

2. Ibid., cat. 30, p. 49; and cat. 33, p. 54.

References: For a similarly styled work see Darlene Coward Wight, A Woman’s Story in Stone, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2016), cat. 30, p. 49, and the volume itself for a comprehensive study of the artist. See also Darlene Wight, Oviloo Tunnillie: Her Life & Work, (Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2016), and Odette Leroux, ed., Inuit Women Artists: Voices from Cape Dorset, (Hull, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1994), p. 221-239. For further insight into Oviloo’s work on the female form, see both the IAQ articles Robert Kardosh, “Transcending the Particular: Feminist Vision in the Sculpture of Oviloo Tunnillie, Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 3, Fall 2009, pp. 24-33, and Peter Millard, “Meditations of Womanhood: Oviloo Tunnillie,” Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 4, Winter 1994, pp. 20-25.