People have often wondered whether the hardness of the local stone was the raison d'être for the “minimalist” aesthetic typical of Arviat sculptors. This rare work in caribou antler by Nutaraaluk would suggest that the hardness of caribou antler was equally challenging to the artist, who by 1970 had been carving stone for a few years. As with the best of Nutaraaluk’s early works the image is both raw and tender. The young woman seems to be getting dressed, perhaps after having nursed one of her children. And the figure has two simple braids - one of the trademarks of the artist’s style.

References: For similarly styled works by the artist from the early-mid 1970s, in stone and on a larger scale, see First Arts Auctions, July 2020, Lot 59; See also Marion Scott Gallery, Vision and Form (Vancouver, 2003), p. 122; and Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Classic Inuit (2005) cat. 30. For another similar example in the Sarick Collection at the AGO, see Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction (Douglas & McIntyre, 1998), fig. 104; also illustrated in Julian Spalding, The Best Art You've Never Seen: 101 Hidden Treasures from Around the World (London: Rough Guides, 2010), p. 191. For another see Ingo Hessel, Arctic Spirit (Douglas & McIntyre/Heard Museum, 2006) cat. 39; also illustrated in Walker's Auctions, Nov. 2016, Lot 133.