THE TORONTO DOMINION GALLERY OF INUIT ART,

PERMANENT EXHIBITION AT TORONTO-DOMINION CENTRE, IBM TOWER

An excerpt from an article written by Marshall Webb and published in the 1986 summer issue of Inuit Art Quarterly (IAQ), vol. 1, no. 2:8.

Placed at the entrance of The Toronto Dominion Gallery of Inuit Art, Johnny Inukpuk's Mother Feeding Child (1962) clearly stands as a signature piece for the collection. As such, it is a triumph. Indeed, it speaks so eloquently of both the Inuit way of life and of a broader mother-child relationship that it threatens to overshadow much of what follows in the gallery. It is an image that is not soon forgotten, and there is no hyperbole in calling it a masterpiece not only of Inuit art but also of, simply, art. No epithet of ethnic origin need be given it.

Although the brochure that acts as an introduction to the 200 works on display in this inaugural exhibition speaks of the "heroic proportion" of Mother Feeding Child, there is nothing of the heroic here. The "mother" is, although monumental in scale, mortal and ordinary. Her harelip, fierce features and fat hands de-heroicize her. But in her ordinariness lies a power that emanates from within and that flows through her child as he is nourished. Inukpuk's figure is symbolic of both the archetypal Mother and of the will to survive. She is determined to feed her child. His life must go on, and in her own awkward way - her hard hands grasp the child's head, its body is awkwardly placed against her big feet and her breasts, which suggest surfeit and fertility - she ensures survival. In her monumentality and act of mothering, she becomes a metaphor for the Inuit and their ongoing struggle for survival.