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Composition (Two Men and a Spider), 2007–08

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of two men, one with walrus-like tusks and the other with an anemone-like beard, struggle with limbs intertwined. A tree stump wraps a long branch around them while a perching tarantula looks on.

Shuvinai Ashoona, Composition (Two Men and a Spider), 2007–08, fineliner pen and coloured pencil on paper, 56 x 76 cm, private collection. Photo credit: Toni Hafkenscheid.

This work marks a dramatic shift in Ashoona’s subject matter from her Northern surroundings to her imaginings. Toronto artist Shary Boyle (b.1972), who has collaborated with Ashoona on artistic projects, recalls the first time she viewed Composition (Two Men and a Spider): “The moment I encountered this image I felt an instant connection with it.… Look at the pencil-crayon marks, the vertical scratchiness—and the faded, complementary colours. Look at the three points of black. Then step back and see the overall composition: the figures making a pretzel of their arms, entwining fingers, crossing legs—while the tree, beheaded and with spread-eagled roots, wraps an arm protectively around the strugglers…. What really pushes it over the edge for me are the two silent players: the perching tarantula and the stiff green fruit.”

Gallery

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona depicting interconnectedness. A group of figures, hand in hand, form a ring around a brown bear, who is overlaid by a polar bear, a seal, and a char.

Composition (People, Animals, and the World Holding Hands), 2007–08

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of two men, one with walrus-like tusks and the other with an anemone-like beard, struggle with limbs intertwined. A tree stump wraps a long branch around them while a perching tarantula looks on.

Composition (Two Men and a Spider), 2007–08

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing a large globe, in the upper left, depicting an aerial view of the community of Kinngait, complete with wildlife. The globe is supported by two human legs, which are encircled by the tentacles of an octopus, while its arms are composed of strings of globes with clawed hands. On the far right-side of the drawing, a traditionally dressed Inuk presents a drawing of a hunter holding a rifle and kneeling behind a stretched canvas.

Earth Transformations, 2012

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of an aerial view of a classroom. Students are seated across from each other writing words in both English and Inuktitut on large pieces of paper. In the lower right corner, orange tongues and an elongated arm are bursting forth from a miniature globe.

Untitled, 2017

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of hybrid human-animal creatures. In the middle, a girl with bright red pigtails has an octopus body with purple tentacles, some waving in the air and others firmly planted on the rocky earth. On the far left is a creature with a coiled, serpent-like body, topped with the head of a boy wearing a baseball cap. In the foreground, a wide-eyed beast resembling a walrus is sprawled on the grass.

Composition (Red Headed Octopus), 2016

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of creatures of varying shapes, colours, and sizes crawling across a rocky landscape. In the middle is a tall, lime green figure with the face of a woman, sharp nails, and legs that morph into animal body parts.

Creatures, 2015

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona, mostly done in black and white, depicting two figures holding up their mobile devices to document a tremendous pile of animal bones, including the massive skeleton of a four-legged animal. A building is partially visible in the upper section of the drawing.

Posting Bones, 2015

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of an aerial outdoor scene depicting two hunters cutting seal on a wooden plank. Otherworldly creatures move around them on the rocky ground which is sprinkled with small pink and green plants. To the left of the people, a large walrus lying on its back.

Untitled (two people cutting seal), 2011

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a close-up view of two different aerial views of globes. The central globe shows different types of common Arctic dwellings. Encircling this sphere are the unusually long arms of a woman in the left corner, dressed in a red parka, whose pregnant belly is also represented in the form of a planet. The second large globe in the upper centre contains camping tools, some surrealistically transforming into fish.

Untitled (woman giving birth to the world), 2010

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a white polar bear battling its otherworldly counterpart, a yellow bear whose body is composed of large and small globes.

Untitled (two bears), 2010

Black and white illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing spiders and other insects with long, curving limbs in a rugged landscape.

All Kinds of Spiders in Different Views, 2011

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing a ship pursuing a giant aquatic creature, which is trying to be led out of an inlet by four small fishing boats. The ship’s side reads “Titanic, Nascopie, and Noah’s Ark” in both English and Inuktitut.

Compositions (Titantic Plus Nascopie, and Noah’s Ark), 2008

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing a man standing on rocky ground with piles of small globes at this feet. He is shovelling the globes with a strained expression on his face.

Shovelling Worlds, 2013

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a smiling blonde and blue-eyed woman with animal and fantastical appendages giving birth. She is embraced from behind by a midwife who appears as a prehistoric bird. The woman pulls an infant from between her legs and it has six small globes atop its head.

Happy Mother, 2013

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing a sinking ship, the Titanic, with its bow in the air. Small people fall from the ship with arms outstretched while a band atop the vessel keeps playing.

Sinking Titanic, 2012

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of hunters protecting themselves from two massive fantastical creatures. The creature on the left is white and has the coiled body of a snake embellished with colourful markings resembling confetti. The tip of its narwhal-like tusk is adorned with an orange fruit. Its companion also possesses a narwhal tusk but resembles a walrus. Near the centre, a hole in the ground contains black birds, one of which has taken flight.

Composition (Hunting Monsters), 2015

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a close-up view of a woman with globes for irises. On top of her head are the entwined bodies of a polar bear, walrus, and swan. To her left, eyes with planets for irises follow a winding cosmic pathway. To her right, below two large overlapping worlds, twisting streaks of hair, primarily yellow and brown, also end in tiny blue and green globes.

The World in Her Eyes, 2011

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a blond-haired man in a green parka standing with his arms raised and his mouth open in alarm as fantastical orange and grey octopi grab his legs. Below him, an oblivious photographer focuses his lens on small dancing creatures before him.

Composition (Attack of the Tentacle Monsters), 2015

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a group of people with a wide range of skin tones and hair and eye colours. They are facing forward, angled towards the right, and looking slightly down towards the same thing. Some figures have their arms wrapped around each other and others hold small children in their laps.

Audience, 2014

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of an aerial view of Kinngait Studios. Outlines of buildings are shown on either side of a wide street which is filled with planets of various sizes. Tiny figures on the street and in the buildings can be seen carrying rolled up drawings.

To the Print Shop, 2013

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a polar bear wearing a blue garment with text that reads: “Satan the Polar Bear / no brain just white white white.” Standing beside the bear is a human figure in a striped dress, her face partially obscured by the long beak of the brown bird on the far left. Emerging from a hole in its chest is an enormous snake whose sinuous body extends across the length of the composition. On the far right, a human-bird hybrid creature has opened its long, lime green beak.

Satan the Polar Bear, 2011

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a globe dotted with common types of Arctic dwellings.

Credits & Acknowledgements

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona depicting interconnectedness. A group of figures, hand in hand, form a ring around a brown bear, who is overlaid by a polar bear, a seal, and a char.

Composition (People, Animals, and the World Holding Hands), 2007–08

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of two men, one with walrus-like tusks and the other with an anemone-like beard, struggle with limbs intertwined. A tree stump wraps a long branch around them while a perching tarantula looks on.

Composition (Two Men and a Spider), 2007–08

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing a large globe, in the upper left, depicting an aerial view of the community of Kinngait, complete with wildlife. The globe is supported by two human legs, which are encircled by the tentacles of an octopus, while its arms are composed of strings of globes with clawed hands. On the far right-side of the drawing, a traditionally dressed Inuk presents a drawing of a hunter holding a rifle and kneeling behind a stretched canvas.

Earth Transformations, 2012

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of an aerial view of a classroom. Students are seated across from each other writing words in both English and Inuktitut on large pieces of paper. In the lower right corner, orange tongues and an elongated arm are bursting forth from a miniature globe.

Untitled, 2017

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of hybrid human-animal creatures. In the middle, a girl with bright red pigtails has an octopus body with purple tentacles, some waving in the air and others firmly planted on the rocky earth. On the far left is a creature with a coiled, serpent-like body, topped with the head of a boy wearing a baseball cap. In the foreground, a wide-eyed beast resembling a walrus is sprawled on the grass.

Composition (Red Headed Octopus), 2016

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of creatures of varying shapes, colours, and sizes crawling across a rocky landscape. In the middle is a tall, lime green figure with the face of a woman, sharp nails, and legs that morph into animal body parts.

Creatures, 2015

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona, mostly done in black and white, depicting two figures holding up their mobile devices to document a tremendous pile of animal bones, including the massive skeleton of a four-legged animal. A building is partially visible in the upper section of the drawing.

Posting Bones, 2015

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of an aerial outdoor scene depicting two hunters cutting seal on a wooden plank. Otherworldly creatures move around them on the rocky ground which is sprinkled with small pink and green plants. To the left of the people, a large walrus lying on its back.

Untitled (two people cutting seal), 2011

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a close-up view of two different aerial views of globes. The central globe shows different types of common Arctic dwellings. Encircling this sphere are the unusually long arms of a woman in the left corner, dressed in a red parka, whose pregnant belly is also represented in the form of a planet. The second large globe in the upper centre contains camping tools, some surrealistically transforming into fish.

Untitled (woman giving birth to the world), 2010

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a white polar bear battling its otherworldly counterpart, a yellow bear whose body is composed of large and small globes.

Untitled (two bears), 2010

Black and white illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing spiders and other insects with long, curving limbs in a rugged landscape.

All Kinds of Spiders in Different Views, 2011

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing a ship pursuing a giant aquatic creature, which is trying to be led out of an inlet by four small fishing boats. The ship’s side reads “Titanic, Nascopie, and Noah’s Ark” in both English and Inuktitut.

Compositions (Titantic Plus Nascopie, and Noah’s Ark), 2008

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing a man standing on rocky ground with piles of small globes at this feet. He is shovelling the globes with a strained expression on his face.

Shovelling Worlds, 2013

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a smiling blonde and blue-eyed woman with animal and fantastical appendages giving birth. She is embraced from behind by a midwife who appears as a prehistoric bird. The woman pulls an infant from between her legs and it has six small globes atop its head.

Happy Mother, 2013

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona showing a sinking ship, the Titanic, with its bow in the air. Small people fall from the ship with arms outstretched while a band atop the vessel keeps playing.

Sinking Titanic, 2012

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of hunters protecting themselves from two massive fantastical creatures. The creature on the left is white and has the coiled body of a snake embellished with colourful markings resembling confetti. The tip of its narwhal-like tusk is adorned with an orange fruit. Its companion also possesses a narwhal tusk but resembles a walrus. Near the centre, a hole in the ground contains black birds, one of which has taken flight.

Composition (Hunting Monsters), 2015

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a close-up view of a woman with globes for irises. On top of her head are the entwined bodies of a polar bear, walrus, and swan. To her left, eyes with planets for irises follow a winding cosmic pathway. To her right, below two large overlapping worlds, twisting streaks of hair, primarily yellow and brown, also end in tiny blue and green globes.

The World in Her Eyes, 2011

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a blond-haired man in a green parka standing with his arms raised and his mouth open in alarm as fantastical orange and grey octopi grab his legs. Below him, an oblivious photographer focuses his lens on small dancing creatures before him.

Composition (Attack of the Tentacle Monsters), 2015

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a group of people with a wide range of skin tones and hair and eye colours. They are facing forward, angled towards the right, and looking slightly down towards the same thing. Some figures have their arms wrapped around each other and others hold small children in their laps.

Audience, 2014

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of an aerial view of Kinngait Studios. Outlines of buildings are shown on either side of a wide street which is filled with planets of various sizes. Tiny figures on the street and in the buildings can be seen carrying rolled up drawings.

To the Print Shop, 2013

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a polar bear wearing a blue garment with text that reads: “Satan the Polar Bear / no brain just white white white.” Standing beside the bear is a human figure in a striped dress, her face partially obscured by the long beak of the brown bird on the far left. Emerging from a hole in its chest is an enormous snake whose sinuous body extends across the length of the composition. On the far right, a human-bird hybrid creature has opened its long, lime green beak.

Satan the Polar Bear, 2011

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a globe dotted with common types of Arctic dwellings.

Credits & Acknowledgements

Composition (Two Men and a Spider) - Art Canada