Raven with Plumed Tail

Kenojuak Ashevak

A drawing in graphite, colored with a felt pen by Cape Dorset artist Kenojuak Ashevak. The subject is a raven with a plumed tail. The West Baffin Eskimo Co-op annotated in pencil on the verso: "CD-040-2377-ad-92/93-03-50.9 x 66". These numbers translate to:

"CD"= Cape Dorset, "040"= Drawing, "2377"= the catalogue number for the artist's work, "ad"= a - graphite, and d - felt pen, "92/93"= date done, "50.9 x 66"= size.

Wikipedia notes: "Raven Tales are the traditional people and animals creation stories of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast but are also found among Athabaskan-speaking peoples and others. Raven stories exist in nearly all of the First Nations throughout the region but are most prominent in the tales of the Tlingit and Tahltan people.

Raven and eagle are known by many different names by many different peoples and is an important figure amongst written and verbal stories. His tales are passed down through the generations of story tellers of the people and are of cultural and historical significance. It's important to note that, from some storytellers' perspective, Native myths such as the Raven Tales, as opposed to tall tales and little stories for children, are not entertainment and are cultural property of the clan or individual that the story originates from. It is customary that others should not tell stories that are owned by another clan, especially if they do not live in the same area."