Shuvinai Ashoona

Canadian, b. 1961

Untitled (Chapel), 2004

Felt-tip pen, coloured pencil on paper

66.3 (ht) x 50.8 (wi) cm

Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Acquired with funds from the Winnipeg Rh Foundation Inc.

2004-74

Categories:

Drawing, Inuit

Shuvinai Ashoona is a member of one of the most prominent artistic families in Cape Dorset. Her grandmother was the late Pitseolak Ashoona and her father is Kiugak Ashoona, a prominent sculptor. She did not begin creating drawings until 1993, but quickly distinguished herself as an artist with an unconventional and often unsettling vision. Like her cousin, Annie Pootoogook, Shuvinai interprets contemporary life in her community and globally, but her vision is often dreamlike. Virtually the entire surface of the paper becomes flat and closed in. The works are static and timeless, with no indication of day or night or season. The bird’s-eye point of view, as in the WAG drawing, gives a further sense of emotional and physical detachment.