Pitseolak Ashoona, Untitled (Birds Flying Overhead), c.1966–67 Coloured felt-tip pen on paper, 65.6 x 50.5 cm, collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative Ltd., on loan to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
More poignantly, her memories of the time following the death of her husband, Ashoona, hint at the depth of her feeling and her connection to birds:
“When my husband died at Netsilik, even though I had relatives, it was as if my whole family had died. . . . When the geese were coming south and flying overhead down here past Cape Dorset, I used to think, ‘These geese have been with Ashoona back in Netsilik. They’ve been at Ashoona’s grave.’ When it was really dark and I could hear the geese overhead, I’d go outside and I’d yell ‘Goodbye, goodbye!’”
This Spotlight is excerpted from Pitseolak Ashoona: Life & Work by Christine Lalonde.
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