TRANSCRIPT

I was making carvings for white people who worked in Inukjuak before the arrival of James Houston. Before I retired from carving, I co-founded the Avataq Cultural Institute with Mary Amidlak. Looking back on my experience as an artist, I enjoyed carving, as well as making baskets and dolls. I supported my family through my artwork. I remember making a carving of an Inuk skinning and removing the fat from a seal, and a man wielding a harpoon. One of the challenges I encountered as a carver was soapstone that was too hard to work with. Finding good carvingstone wasn't that difficult; I even found some soapstone nearby, which you can see from here. Sometimes when I quarried, I would take a dogteam and go by myself. However, eventually my dogteam was slaughtered.