The Gifts of the Sea

2017
Pen and ink on white leather, black binding trim, jute twine lacing, wood, acrylic paint, and polyester twine
36” x 54” x 2”

Since time immemorial, across the arctic, we Inuit have shared and passed down the story of Sedna.

A goddess whose amputated fingers and hands became the bounty of the sea, the mammals that fed us, clothed us, and whose blubber gave us warmth in the dark winter nights.

At times, she would be displeased; perhaps a hunter mistakingly forgot to offer the seal he caught a drink of fresh water. In these times her hair becomes unkempt, trapping the animals that we relied upon, not allowing them to be caught by us. It is then that a shaman must perform a ceremony to visit her, to comb and braid her hair, releasing the animals and in turn pleasing her... for it is impossible for her to properly care for her hair as her fingers and hands were amputated so long ago.

Then and only then, when she is pleased and the taboos are followed, will there be food to eat, warm furs to wear, and blubber to keep us warm...

I think about this now and wonder if there will ever be a shaman powerful enough to make Sedna happy again?

We are trying to relearn the old ways, fighting against the colonial obliteration of our culture and beliefs, and this, I know pleases her and our ancestors...

Again, we do this as a people, yet the colonial machine is unstoppable. Continuing projects of an outside government, to sell our resources to another outside source to line their pockets in blood monies. Poisoning the water, poisoning the land, poisoning our souls.

She will live on, in obscurity, as her people die and are displaced from traditional, bountiful, beautiful lands and seas...

She will live on; with unkempt hair, poisoned with the progress of a colonial machine that will never believe in her...

For this, she will keep with her forever...

The Gifts of the Sea