In several friezes of animated figures that are arranged without a fixed spatial conception, Niviaqsi here illustrates multiple scenes of hunters at an ice fishing spot. In the centre register, three men have chopped holes in the ice, two with their kakivak spears plunged into the stenciled blue water. Above and below, successful fishers hoist their captured char. While the men are shown in black silhouette (faithful to the artist’s distinctive, crisp drawing style), the char are more delicately depicted in blue stencilling that indicates that the fish are still glistening wet as the the icy water cascades down their fishtails.

References: Image reproduced in “Eskimo Art”, Calgary Herald, 3 March 1960, p. 22; “Eskimo Art Organized”, Edmonton Journal, 4 March 1960, p. 23; Christine Lalonde and Leslie Boyd Ryan, Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset 1959-2009, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2009), cat. 28, p. 25 and elsewhere.