(1969 - 2017)

Samonie was the son of graphic artist Sheojuk and carver Toonoo, and the younger brother of sculptors Oviloo Tunnillie and Jutai Toonoo. Samonie began carving in his early twenties, making realistic depictions of wildlife and figurative subjects. However, his more recent work has been directed towards expressing social issues or images that give sculptural shape to more abstract concepts that we all think about but rarely visualize.

-Excerpt from Cape Dorset Sculpture, 2005.