Against this background of rapid cultural change, contemporary Inuit art came into being. Soon sculptures replaced the white-fox pelts as a way to procure cash. The transition from one object of barter to another was fairly smooth. For two hundred years Inuit hunters had, whenever possible, bartered little souvenir items with any of the groups finding their way into the North. However, this production and trade of carvings, usually made out of ivory, was sporadic at best and only tool: place locally.

When James Houston, a young adventurous artist from Toronto, landed in Inukjuak in Arctic Quebec in 1948 he was presented with one of these whittlings and, with the eye of the artist, recognized its beauty. He solicited more and brought back a whole selection that he presented to the Canadian Guild of Crafts in Montreal and so the adventure began. The Guild, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the federal government established a distribution system and a market in the South was created. Tile stage or the enthusiastic reception of contemporary Inuit art was set.

If we want to appreciate Inuit art from this period, we need to be conscious of its context. Here was a group of people displaced and dispossessed, out of their element, trapped in a small community with other Inuit groups with whom they had never before had occasion or desire to associate. They had lost control over their lives. The powerful trio of the RCMP, the church, and the Hudson's Bay Company made all the vital decisions for them. Next in line was the Northern Services Officer from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, who represented the awesome power of the federal government.

Was it any wonder that people grabbed with such fervour the opportunity to make a living through carving? This was their way out of humiliating dependence, all the harder to bear since they had enjoyed total freedom and independence before.

Life as hunters and keepers of the camp had not prepared them for settlement life, which required different skills, such as a working knowledge of English. Making art provided a solution. All the superb skills, honed over centuries in the struggle for survival-knowledge of Arctic animals, an astonishing visual memory, infinite patience and perseverance-could be applied to making a sculpture. Also, the law of survival had taught the people to be creative in an environment that required knowing how to repair a rifle or fabricate little spare parts if necessary because the next hardware store was thousands of miles away.