Created for the second annual Cape Dorset print collection, Our Southern Neighbours offers a fascinating glimpse into how an Inuit artist imagined Indigenous peoples living beyond the Arctic. Five spear-bearing figures, adorned with feathered headdresses and unfamiliar garments, stand in succession, their slender silhouettes and elaborate ornamentation carefully distinguished. Inuit knowledge of First Nations peoples to the south included histories of travel, trade, and conflict, yet Paunichea makes no suggestion of confrontation here. Instead, the repeated poses, patterned plumage, pointed spears, and soft stencilling lend the procession a curious visual appeal. Produced during the formative years of the Kinngait print program, the work offers an intriguing example of an artist turning his imagination toward peoples and places beyond Inuit Nunangat.

MBL