Visual Arts
Ashukan (Jean-Pierre Fontaine and Isabelle Courtois)
Teachings of the elder woman

Artists' book : Sculpture, painted elk antlers, terra cotta, caribou hide, fur, feathers, leather, beads and wood
Teachings of the elder woman
Ashukan, 2005
Artists' book
Sculpture, painted elk antlers, terra cotta, caribou hide, fur, feathers, leather, beads and wood
Thumbnail of Innu Thumbnail of Innu devant sa tente Thumbnail of Innu devant une rivière Thumbnail of Aînée fabriquant une raquette Thumbnail of Oie prenant son envol
Thumbnail of Les enseignements de l'aînée, livre d'artiste d'Ashukan Thumbnail of Le jeu d'un Innu, Jeu d'échec d'Ashukan Thumbnail of Chandeliers Thumbnail of Innue en costume Thumbnail of Tête

“...our book contains no writing, but on the pages there is a scene of an Innu grandmother's teachings to her grandchildren sitting around her and listening attentively to her.”

“The eagle, the highest-flying bird, represents the link between the Creator and man. It links heaven and earth and brings us subtle and essential knowledge. This is why it brings us the Great Book, symbol of knowledge, of the memory of Peoples, in its talons.

When we begin to listen to Nature and animals, we can hear their wise words. This is what the pictograms painted within Eagle's wings mean. In Amerindian traditions, knowledge is passed on through speech and, there are very few written traces in the literal sense, except for pictograms. For this reason, our book contains no writing, but its pages set forth a scene of an Innu grandmother's teachings to her grandchildren sitting around her and listening attentively to her".

This scene recalls the way of life of nomadic Innu: while the men were away hunting, fishing and trapping on their hunting grounds, the women tended to the campsite's well-being and brought up children by telling them legends.

The grandmother, nukum in the Innu language, is the living symbol of knowledge acquired through life experience.

The characters are created from clay, a symbol of the Earth element, in perfect symbiosis with the Eagle who hails from the sphere of rarefied air.”

Isabelle Courtois and Jean-Pierre Fontaine