See Beneath the Waves
2000
Black wool stroud, smoke tanned caribou hide, various materials
71.5 x 59.5 inches


Beneath the freezing Arctic Ocean lives a most fearsome yet loving sea goddess. Many now know her as Sedna or Nuliajuk. Once, she was a young girl and a marriageable young woman. Though she loved her family deeply, she refused her parents' plea to marry the hunter they chose. She did not want to leave; did not want to clean seals and seal skins. She did not want to sew or cook.

She ran away and set her camp near the coast. It was here that she caught sight of a man. A man, unknown to her, who could transform into a gigantic bird. In man form, he wooed Nuliajuk and promised her she didn’t have to cook, clean, or sew if she returned with him to his island not far from shore. Happily, she agreed and they rowed to her new island home. All was well until she saw him transform into a fearsome bird, larger than many whales. Terrified, she ran to the shoreline facing her parents’ home, crying out pitifully and deeply repentant for not obeying them.

The family heard her cries and rushed to her to bring her back home. Halfway back across the channel, her husband transformed into the supernatural-sized bird. He was enraged to see his wife escaping. He flew above the tiny boat, the downward drafts of his mighty wings whipping up the sea around the small vessel. The waves threaten to capsize the boat and sink them all.

The father, fearing for the lives of the rest of his family, threw Nuliajuk into the maelstrom of the sea. She did not want to die and sink into the icy, dark depths. With both hands, she frantically clutched the side of the boat. The sea grew fiercer. The sky was obscured by the size of the bird.

Seizing an axe, the father frantically chopped off the first set of Nuliajuk’s finger knuckles, the next, and finally, the last. Now, unable to hold, she glanced upwards and slowly sank into the depths, trailing her finger joints. The smaller joints became the fishes, and the larger ones became the mammals and whales.

Unable to comb or braid her long, jet black hair, Nuliajuk grew angry. She withheld the bounties of her domain, all the fishes and all the creatures that live there. A shaman, transformed and traveled to the depths of her dark domain. There he respectfully and gently combed and braided her hair, calming her once again.

Pleased with the gentle ministrations, Nuliajuk released her bounty once again to the World.

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