Born in Shaktoolik, Alaska, Levi Tetpon honed his carving skills under the guidance of his father, Eric Tetpon Sr., before settling in Anchorage, where he now resides. His early works were shaped in soapstone, a material that allowed for experimentation and refinement before he began working in marine ivory.

In the present work, Tetpon does not simply depict a hunting scene, he reimagines it as something more profound, a physical manifestation of the unity between hunter and hunted. Both Alaska Native and Canadian Inuit artists have long captured moments of the hunt, but Tetpon’s interpretation emphasizes something beyond the act itself. Here, there is no hierarchy imposed. No suggestion of a dominant force looming over the defeated.

Instead, the figures of Tetpon’s scene are literally interconnected, their forms flowing into one another in a way that suggests not only the climax of a hunt — a harpoon sweeping elegantly from the leftmost hunter’s hand to the walrus’s snout — but a relationship that is symbiotic and enduring. Two additional human faces emerge from the walrus’s body, one at its centre and another on its chest, further reinforcing the inextricable link between man and animal. Here, survival is not conquest but reciprocity. The walrus provides the hunter with sustenance, tools, and the very ivory from which this work was created.

This reverence is further evidenced in Tetpon’s meticulous craftsmanship. A sleek baleen base serves as the foundation for this scene, polished smooth as a skipping stone. Minuscule spots of baleen inlay define the labrets, faces, clothing, and the whiskers of the walrus. This level of precision is not incidental—it signals the significance of what the artist depicts. The unity of hunter and walrus is not just a theme but a fundamental truth, one Tetpon deems worthy of meticulous attention, reinforcing that their interconnectedness is not merely symbolic but essential. It is a relationship worth carving with care.

References: A very similar work is reproduced on the cover of William W. Fitzhugh, et. al., Yua: Spirit of the Arctic: Highlights from the Thomas G. Fowler Collection, (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2020). It is also reproduced cat. 80, p. 157.

Nadine Di Monte