Sajupilaktuq (Earthquake)
$3,200.00
Available
Description
‘Sajupilaktuq (Earthquake)’ by Qavavau Manumie is a 2025 Cape Dorset original graphite, coloured‑pencil, and Pentel drawing on paper — a sweeping vision of the Arctic in motion, where land and ice fracture under unseen forces, revealing the living pulse of the North.
Condition: No condition noted.
Description by Artist: No description by artist found.
Notes from DaVic Gallery: The earth trembles, and the Arctic breathes. In ‘Sajupilaktuq (Earthquake),’ Qavavau Manumie captures the instant when stability gives way to transformation — when the frozen world cracks open to reveal its restless heart. Jagged cliffs, shifting ice floes, and fractured soil stretch across the paper in a vast, panoramic rhythm. The drawing feels alive, as if the land itself were exhaling after centuries of silence.
Manumie’s precision turns chaos into beauty. Each fissure and contour is deliberate, each tonal shift between graphite and colour a whisper of movement. The composition unfolds like a slow‑motion film: the moment before collapse, the shudder of release, and the quiet aftermath. It is both geological and emotional — a portrait of the Arctic’s strength and fragility.
The work’s scale amplifies its power. At over four feet wide, it invites the viewer to step inside the landscape, to feel the vibration beneath their feet. The contrast between warm earth tones and cool blues mirrors the tension between permanence and change. This is not destruction; it is renewal — the Arctic remaking itself, as it always has.
Collectors will recognize in ‘Sajupilaktuq (Earthquake)’ a rare convergence of technical mastery and elemental storytelling. It is a drawing that moves — not just visually, but viscerally — reminding us that even the most solid ground carries the memory of motion.
The blank sheet of letter‑size (8 ½ × 11 in) paper visible in the final reference image provides immediate scale context, underscoring the drawing’s monumental proportions and immersive sense of space.
Copyright:
© DaVic Art Gallery, 2026. All rights reserved. Content may be quoted or reproduced for educational or promotional purposes only with clear attribution to DaVic Art Gallery of Native Canadian Arts and inclusion of the artwork title and artist’s name.