Dark, distilled, and dramatically spare, With the Raven Comes the Fish reduces the scene to its essentials. Much of the print is held in dense black, with white reserved for a few carefully chosen details. On the hunter’s clothing, it defines the trim, while the shaft of the kakivak is reversed into white so that it remains visible against his black coat. Beneath the water, the pale belly of the fish answers to these passages above, drawing the eye towards the point where hunter and prey are about to meet. The fish appears to dance beside the lure, unaware of the spear and hook held ready beside it. Overhead, a raven hangs in black silhouette, its single white eye cut from the surrounding darkness.

While it is not made clear in any known literature, With the Raven Comes the Fish may well suggest that a bird's circling presence heralds a hidden shoal beneath the water's surface. Pootoogook came of age living a traditional Arctic lifestyle, where fishing was vital to survival and the ability to discern such signs in the natural environment was crucial. It is little wonder, then, that he chose to depict this scene as an expression of the close interdependence between nature and survival.

ND