"Without carving how would I survive?" : Economic motivation and its significance in contemporary Inuit art

To date, art historians who specialize in contemporary Inuit art have minimized or disregarded the economic significance Inuit art has for its producers. Although economic factors of Inuit art production have been treated as irrelevant in most art historical inquiries, Inuit artists say that financial remuneration is essential to their art production. Based on interviews conducted with artists living in Cape Dorset, this thesis demonstrates that to varying degrees, economic incentives affect what and why an artist produces. Since art history concerns itself with why an artwork looks the way it does, financial considerations should be an important factor in art historical analyses of contemporary Inuit art.