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1964-01-01
N/A
20 min
This documentary shows how an Inuit artist's drawings are transferred to stone, printed and sold. Kenojuak Ashevak became the first woman involved with the printmaking co-operative in Cape Dorset. This film was nominated for the 1963 Documentary Short Subject Oscar.
Though they are not so great for natural light, I've always thought just how much are suitable igloos are for living in than pitched-roofed wooden houses when the snow and the Arctic winds are at their liveliest. That's how we meet Kenojuak and her family. Sheltering from a storm and sharing the last of their seal meat hoping it abates and they can continue their journey to the settlement of Cape Dorset. It's there than they can relax a little and she and her friends can spend time on their artwork. She draws, astonishing symbols from Inuit mythology combined with the creatures they still encounter and tales of the hunt. Almost everyone can draw, but some can also create intricate carvings that serve as stencils for paint and paper so prints can be made of their work and the word of their skills can spread south and beyond. The photography of the wilderness well captures the bleakness of their homeland but also it's pristine light and water - a water that has smoothed the rocks they seem to so effortlessly bring to life. It's all a cycle and as the sun begins to retreat and the sky takes on ever more vivid shades and hues, her young son dances to the only piece of technology we see - a wind up record player!
