Inuit Elder — Nunavut Ivory Carving
749.00 د.إ
An Inuit elder carving a soapstone polar bear in his workshop in Pond Inlet, Nunavut — his hands shaped by decades of carving, the half-finished sculpture on the work bench, the Arctic outside his window white and featureless.
Description
Inuit soapstone carving is one of the most commercially successful expressions of indigenous art in Canada, and the carvers of Nunavut — particularly in the communities of Pond Inlet, Cape Dorset, and Rankin Inlet — produce work that commands international auction prices. This portrait was made in a Pond Inlet carving workshop with the elder carver’s agreement through the local arts cooperative, the subject in his normal working position: seated at his workbench with a half-completed polar bear sculpture in dark soapstone, the rasps and rifflers of his carving tools arrayed on the bench beside him. His hands — calloused and stained with decades of soapstone work — are the visual centre of the portrait. The Arctic through the frosted workshop window provides a white atmospheric background. Shot on a 50mm prime at f/2.8 in the available workshop light.
