Culture Exchange

Description

Untitled (Culture Exchange) by Shuvinai Ashoona – Inuit Art from Cape Dorset 2010 original hand drawing collection presented by DaVic Gallery of Native Canadian Arts.

Condition:          No condition noted.  It is common that original drawings will show minor handling marks and probably stains caused by the artist themselves.  It is also common to see, particularly with Shuvinai’s drawings, uneven paper trimming.

Description by Artist:     No description by artist found.

Notes from DaVic Gallery:    In this fantastic composition we have seven subjects showing or displaying something they want to share and that is the reason I thought “Culture Exchange” could be appropriate for this untitled drawing by Shuvinai Ashoona.  One subject stands as observer.  One man shows his pictures of a boat and perhaps of a fish he caught right after.  Another man talks about his family as he holds them in his arms.  Then we have a fairy with some message, a clam, then we have a truck and heart and something else, perhaps a boat.  As different as they all are, they all hold hands in common understanding.  There are more creatures holding hands that do not appear in the drawing, one next to the fairy and one next to this figure that could be a boat on the extreme right.

If you look closely at the clam, Shuvinai’s name is written repeatedly in syllabics.  The clam has eyes as if witness of the story the man with the picture of the boat is sharing.  There is part of a subject also pulling on a toy boat with a thread in hand. Perhaps it is the boat that is holding hands with the heart.

The blank sheet of letter-size (8.5” x 11”) paper covering part of the image in the last picture is for size reference.