One of Jessie Oonark’s eight artist-children, Nanurluk (commonly known as Miriam Qiyuk) made a name for herself as a sculptor. Interestingly, many of Nanurluk’s stone depictions of families, birds, sleeping couples, and similar subjects are low-slung and carved in high relief rather than vertically oriented and open-carved, even when they are relatively large. She often carved together with her husband Silas Qiyuk, and their styles and choice of subject matter became quite similar. However, in the early 1990s Nanurluk reprised a theme she had experimented with years earlier and would become an important series of works for her alone going forward: large groups of figures tightly arranged as if gathered at a family reunion. (For a fine early version from c. 1980 see First Arts, December 2020, Lot 30.)

Nanurluk’s family groupings fall mostly into two compositional types: figures arranged as if seated on the ground, and others seemingly crowded onto a small boat. The latter, while reminiscent of Joe Talirunili’s famous umiaq migrations, do not exhibit the same feeling of urgency and adventure. If anything, Nanurluk’s images remind us of happy poses struck for family reunion photos. Family Gathering combines the two ideas; this happy seated crowd is arranged on what looks like a boat-shaped platform. As with the other fine examples of this theme, the atmosphere of this gathering is festive; clearly the closeness of Nanurluk’s family is both emotional and quite literal. Forget the idea of personal space! Nanurluk’s late carving style suits this quite large sculpture perfectly: slightly rustic, even somewhat impressionistic, full of energy and personality, and full of love.

References: For important group compositions by the artist see Darlene Coward Wight, Creation and Transformation: Defining Moments in Inuit Art, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2012), cat. 90; First Arts Auction, Dec. 2020, Lot 30; First Arts Auction, May 2019; First Arts Auction, Dec. 2020, Lot 30. See also Walker’s Auctions, May 2016, Lot 77; Walker’s Nov. 2015, Lot 54; Walker’s May 2014, Lot 44; Walker’s Nov. 2012, Lot 38.