Arctic Odyssey

Pitaloosie is a senior artist who has produced work for the Cape Dorset print studio prolifically since the late 1960s. Her works are typically stonecut workings of female figures, and female figures with birds. This is a somewhat uncharacteristic composition, but it is an attractive and suggestive print. A set of hooded figures are making their way across the sea in a boat which seems artificially suspended above the water; its hull is decorated with big faces; they observe a falling star. The title alludes not to native myth but to one of the foundational works of western literature, exemplifying the sense in which the Cape Dorset artists have ranged widely beyond their own traditions. Only loosely situated, geographically or environmentally, this is a personal response to the notion of the enchanted journey, and a beautiful work. This acquisition was presented by the Art Fund and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.