Victor Ekootak

Canadian, 1916–1965

River Fishing, 1966

stonecut on paper, Gov A/43

47 x 60.6 cm Image: 32.5 x 39 cm

Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Gift of Indian & Northern Affairs, Canada

G-89-1320

Categories:

Print, Inuit

Victor Ekootak was a founder of Holman Eskimo Co-operative and one of the first artists to produce drawings and prints in the early 1960s. An accomplished carver, he turned these skills to making stonecuts in 1964. Twelve of his prints were included in the first two annual print collections published by the Holman Eskimo Co-operative in 1965 and 1966. In this print the artist shows a fishing weir (or trap) of stone that was constructed to catch fish in shallow streams. Men, women, and children would participate in the spearing of the fish with kakivaks, or three-pronged fish spears. The fish would then be dried for future use by hanging them on a line, as shown in the background of the print.