Jessie Oonark never hesitated when it came to colour. Her prints are unapologetically vibrant, her forms bold and assured. Big Woman is no exception. With her broad shoulders, flowing amautiq tail, and a pail casually swinging at her side, the figure strides forward in rich fields of red, blue, and ochre. At first glance, this appears to be classic Oonark—a monumental woman rendered with graphic clarity. But beneath its visual power lies a quieter, stranger story.

In a 1983 interview, Oonark offered a surprising and poetic backstory to the work: “This is a woman, just my interpretation of a woman who is turning into a stone, in Chantrey Inlet. The stone itself is really colourful because this woman had a fancy parka... [She turned into a stone] because she never wanted to get married to anyone. The woman is supposed to be in a kneeling position, but I just drew it in the standing position anyway" [1].

It is such a typically Oonark revelation: matter-of-fact, mysterious, and layered with meaning. What first appeared to be a bold portrait becomes something mythic—a transformation, a refusal, a woman becoming part of the landscape because she would not conform to its expectations. That the figure was meant to be kneeling but is drawn standing feels like a quiet act of resistance, or perhaps imagination: a refusal to pin a story to just one telling.

Big Woman resonates with Oonark’s earlier print Woman (1970), another striking depiction of female presence, and speaks to her extraordinary ability to thread personal narrative, cultural memory, and graphic experimentation into a single visual gesture. In her hands, a woman can be a symbol, a story, and a stone all at once.

1. Marion E. Jackson, Transcripts of Interviews with Jessie Oonark and her Children (Unpublished, Spring 1983), p. 38.