Living near Aberdeen Lake, David Ikutaaq would have known muskoxen as more than just as symbols of the Arctic. He would have seen them in motion and understood both their power and their vulnerability. Here, in Two Muskoxen, Side by Side, Ikutaaq translates this knowledge into stone. The pair are set head-to-toe and pressed flank-to-flank, their bodies fused into a single compact block.

Their locked stance can be read in two ways. It may hint at the beginnings of the archetypal defensive huddle, when muskoxen gather into a living wall to protect against predators. It may also capture a different kind of closeness, the act of scenting, through which muskoxen recognize one another, strengthen bonds, and signal reproductive cues.

In either case, the work is lovely and stands as a quintessential example of Qamani’tuaq carving, where artists often favoured solidity and weight. Minimal voids interrupt the mass and the limbs are reduced to sturdy supports so that the eye is carried instead to the dense fur and the broad, emphatic horn bosses.

ND