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Artworks
GERMAINE ARNAKTAUYOK (1946-) Iglulik (Igloolik)
Fertility Moon, 2001Printmaker: STUDIO PM, MONTREAL
etching and aquatint, sheet: 24.75 x 22.5 in (62.9 x 57.1 cm) / plate: 15.75 x 14 in (40 x 35.6 cm)
10/60LOT 16
ESTIMATE: $600 — $900
PRICE REALIZED: $671.00Sometimes while viewing an artwork, we are left wondering what the artist's thoughts are, wishing that we could get some insight on the artwork. Fortunately, Germaine Arnaktauyok has never shied...Sometimes while viewing an artwork, we are left wondering what the artist's thoughts are, wishing that we could get some insight on the artwork. Fortunately, Germaine Arnaktauyok has never shied away from speaking about her art and the stories behind them!
When the moon was bright, women who couldn't have babies would pray to the moon. They called that the fertility moon. The spirit of the moon would come down on a sled.
He would take the woman who had called him to the moon. Sometimes she was put inside an iglu. She wasn't allowed to peek out of the iglu, but sometimes she would. The woman and the Spirit of the Moon would have sex on the moon, and then she would be taken back, and she would have a baby.
When the spirit of the moon [sic] comes down, sometimes he has one dog or three dogs, and sometimes none, depending on the version. Once I learn the story, I decide on the type of art I want to make. I have the choice because of the different versions of the legends. Sometimes I focus on the woman, sometimes on the moon. I do research on the moon when I do that, because I try to draw things as they really are, so it looks as it should.
Germaine Arnaktauyok and Gyu Oh, My Name Is Arnaktauyok: The Life and Art of Germaine Arnaktauyok, (Inhabit Media Inc.: Iqaluit, 2015), p. 86.
Provenance
Private Collection, Australia.
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