Inuk Eating

Inscriptions

Signed and inscribed, incised on bottom: SEMEONIE / E9960

Label

These sculptures depict different moments after a whale hunt. In one, a hunter prepares a cut of whale meat; in the other, a person bites into a portion of food, possibly maktak. Maktak consists of raw whale skin and blubber and is a foundational part of the traditional Inuit diet and food practice. Inuit communities continue to hunt whale today, which involves participation from everyone, after which the whale meat and oil are shared among families and neighbors. In some Inuit world views, food is treated as communal property, and the sharing of hunting responsibilities and food is seen as essential to communal care.

Course History

NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2020

Exhibition History

From the Field: Tracing Foodways Through Art, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 8-November 3, 2024.

Provenance

Quebec Handicraft Center; sold to Jane and Raphael Bernstein, Ridgewood, New Jersey, February 25, 1973; lent to present collection, 2011; given to present collection, 2013.

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Subjects