Discombobulated Woman, 1995–96

Illustration by Shuvinai Ashoona of a sculpture-like object with a woman's head and several limbs placed at unnatural angles. Several sticks jut out from the limbs and balance small weights from strings.

Shuvinai Ashoona, Discombobulated Woman, 1995–96, fineliner pen and coloured pencil on paper, 33 x 50.7 cm, Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto.

Discombobulated Woman is a forerunner of the many disjointed or disconcerting figures in landscapes in Shuvinai’s oeuvre that would follow. It shows an Inuk artist taking an approach unique to those that had come before her—her style had not been seen in drawings coming out of Cape Dorset before this time.


It is best not to read Discombobulated Woman’s title too literally, as the work was likely not titled by the artist. Most Cape Dorset works are titled in the South, although this is beginning to change.

Gallery

Discombobulated Woman - Art Canada