This small-scale work represents Germaine Arnaktauyok’s ambitious engagement with one of the central narratives of Inuit tradition. The story of Sedna is shared widely across the Arctic, yet each re-telling carries the character of its community and storyteller. Arnaktauyok here turns to the version in which Sedna has no fingers, and therefore cannot comb or braid her hair. That absence becomes the centre of the composition, as her displeasure takes form. One braid trails along the right and lower margins of the sheet, its fastener slipping loose. The other plait is gone and her locks stream entirely free, coursing through the water in long, unbound lines that begin to ensnare a narwhal, whales, and a walrus.

Sedna with Half-Plaited Hair, Ensnaring Sea Animals in Her Unbound Hair