Malina is my reimagined story of the sun goddess. In the original story, Malina is repeatedly sexually assaulted in the dark by her brother and flees into the sky when she catches him in the act. The story is that she becomes the sun and the brother becomes the moon, chasing her everyday. I created this woodcut print to show her outside of her story of violence. In this piece she exists in safety, waking up in the morning to spread the qulliq (traditional Inuit oil lamp) light and warmth to the day. I didn’t want to rewrite history or say the traditional story is wrong… but I wanted to provide an alternate storyline that shines a light forward in the absence of trauma.
Editor’s note:

The Inuit people had a captivating tale that offered an explanation for the movement of the sun and moon. The story goes that the sun was a divine being called Malina, while her brother, Anningan, was the god of the moon. In their youth, the two siblings played together in the dark.

One fateful night, Anningan committed an unforgivable act by violating his sister. A fierce altercation ensued, resulting in a broken seal-oil lamp and spilled oil on Malina’s hands. While fleeing from her brother, she ran into the sky, where they both transformed into the sun and moon.

As fate would have it, Anningan continues to pursue his sister across the sky to this day, making it rare for the sun and moon to be visible together. Anningan’s obsessive pursuit of his sister is so intense that he often forgets to eat, causing him to become increasingly emaciated over time. Consequently, he is forced to leave the sky for three days each month. This pattern is what gives rise to the lunar cycle.

At times, Anningan manages to catch up with his sister, leading to a fascinating natural phenomenon – a solar eclipse in the sky.