In a 2020 interview with Bill Nasogaluak during his show at Feheley Fine Arts, the artist explained the impetus for a similar work, entitled The Breaking of the Soul. Nasogaluak relayed that his cousin, who had suffered from alcoholism, succumbed to the illness and ultimately took his own life [1].

In Suicide in Bottle, as in The Breaking of the Soul, the bottle has jagged shapes variously plucked out of the stone in a pattern that presents, at outset, as rather playful and abstract. A closer inspection reveals a lone figure in the interior, suspended in mid-air by his neck. The feeling is one that is disconcerting and truly tragic.

While The Breaking of the Soul and Suicide in Bottle, honour Nasogaluak’s late cousin, the subject serves as a haunting evocation and a compelling tribute to all those affected by the disease of alcoholism.

1. Bill Nasoglauk interview by Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, 26 March 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj1kGWeN4zE