After Peter Pitseolak’s initial experiments with developing his pictures, his second wife, Aggeok, took over developing and printing his photographs. The pair staged and photographed scenes of contemporary life in the Arctic, but rather than merely capturing fleeting moments, the images serve as now iconic symbols of traditional Inuit life. We witness this emblematic approach in the present photograph. In Pulling a Bearded Seal from the Ice, the subjects, Peter Pitseolak and family, as well as the bearded seal have all been carefully arranged, posed in a dramatic hoist. (Pitseolak set up the camera and arranged the scene, and Aggeok snapped the shot.) The solidity of the figures is reinforced by the stark contrast of their dark clothing and skin against the expansive snowy, white ground and by the geometry of the horizon line, the slope of which parallels the direction of the hunting team. This image has been extensively reproduced, including in Pitseolak and Eber’s book People from Our Side.

Eber’s inscription on the verso of the frame serves to illustrate Aggeok’s imperative role in these remarkable and early photography experiments. Pulling a Bearded Seal from the Ice represents both a rare collecting opportunity and as a symbol of the intellectual collaboration between Peter Pitseolak and Aggeok, the contributions of the latter of which have gone largely and unfortunately overlooked.

References: This image has been extensive reproduced, including in Peter Pitseolak and Dorothy Harley Eber, People From Our Side: A Life Story with Photographs and Oral History, Ann Meekitjuk Hanson, trans., (Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993), p. 62, as “Pulling a square flipper from the seal hole. This picture was taken near Keatuk about 1944 by Aggeok (she says Peter Pitseolak set the camera) just after the seal was caught."; It is important to note that Aggeok was a key contributor to this publication. Image also reproduced in Nelson H.H. Graburn, Peter Pitseolak (1902-1973), Inuit historian of Seekoseelak/ Peter Pitseolak (1902-1973): Chroniqueur Inuit de Seekooseelak, (Montreal: McCord Museum, 1975), p. 8; "Peter Pitseolak (1902-1973), Inuit Historian of Seekooseelak. Photographs and Drawings from Cape Dorset, Baffin Island. An exhibition held at the McCord Museum, Montréal, 9 January – 9 March 1980," Canadian Art Review, Vol. 7, No. 1-2, 1980, reproduced p. 105, as "Peter Pitseolak and family pulling an ujjuk (bearded seal) from its breathing hole, 1944."