My father drew this [subject] a lot. I saw him making that and I asked him about it. He told me it was a story. Two men were talking and one told the other that if he took his boat out to a certain place the water would suck him down. The second man didn’t believe him, so he paddled out to that place anyway. He and his boat were sucked down into the water and never seen again. I don’t know why he didn’t draw the people. When I first saw that drawing I thought it was nothing. [1]

Emerak’s daughter Mary Uyargaklik provides the fascinating story behind the artist’s original drawing in a 2000 interview with Darlene Wight. Her initial reaction to her father’s semi-abstract image is entirely understandable. We recall, however, that our own initial reaction to the print was “OMG how stunning!”