KENOJUAK ASHEVAK, C.C., R.C.A. (1927-2013) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
Tattooed Sun / Tatooed Sun*, 1994 #17
Printmaker: QIATSUQ NIVIAQSI (1941-) KINNGAIT (CAPE DORSET)
stonecut, 24.5x 26.26 in (62.2 x 66.7 cm)
31/50
*title inscribed on print / title in catalogue.

Tattooed Sun reminds us of a similar image from Cape Dorset, the iconic stonecut, The Woman Who Lives in the Sun of 1960 (see First Arts, Lot 15, 28 May 2019). As with this early counterpart, in this present anthropomorphized depiction, the sun is depicted as a woman. She is distinguished as such by the hypnotic rows of circular dots to indicate her facial tattoos.
br>That the concept of life giving is a particularly feminine or maternal trait may have contributed to the feminine character of Tattooed Sun. The womanly depiction may also hold its origins in the traditional Inuit story of a woman who, upon realizing that she had unknowingly committed incest with her brother, fled in shame with her lit torch. The woman was chased by her brother, who in his pursuit, had his own torch snuffed out. The pair eventually reached the heavens where the woman was transformed into the sun and the brother into the moon.

References: Tattooed Sun is reproduced in Leslie Boyd Ryan, Cape Dorset Prints: A Retrospective (San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2007), p. 268