Museum of Contemporary Circumpolar Art (MCCA)

Throughout Kenojuak Ashevak’s life, the owl a constant source of inspiration. In Inuit culture, the owl serves as a source of guidance and assistance. One of the owl’s duties is to collect the spirits of the dead and bring them to the spirit world before the rising of the sun. Another myth teaches that the short-eared owl was once a young girl who was transformed into an owl with a long beak, but she became scared and flew into the side of house and flattened her face and beak. Inuit myths served as a means by which the Inuit community was brought together by common beliefs and an understanding of their place in nature.