Communities of Access: Examining Emerging Geographies of Inuit Art in Canada Through the Lens of the Winnipeg Art Gallery's Inuit Art Centre and Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop

• Main Author: Apostolatos, Chrys Avgi
• Other Authors: Hickson, Sally
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Guelph 2019
• Subjects: Inuit art and culture; museum practices; Canada; geographic centres; Cape Dorset; inuit
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10214/16923

This thesis investigates how access to Inuit art and culture is changing through the development of new museum practices in the north and south of Canada, analyzing two new sites that are central to these emerging geographies. Opening in 2020, the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Inuit Art Centre is the first large-scale exhibition space in the world that focuses on Inuit art and culture. Located in Cape Dorset, the Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop (2018), serves as a cultural centre for the production/exhibition of Inuit art in the north. Looking at the development of these two institutions within the historiography of Inuit cultural stewardship and Canadian institutional culture, I examine, through a thematic examination of print, news articles and social media posts, how new geographic centres of Inuit art are changing accessibility to Inuit culture, particularly in relation to the communities that produce it.