Symbols and purpose
What do they mean?
Different art work has different meanings. This particular sculpture was created to show the "spirit" of the animal. Many Inuit art focuses animals and the purpose of having animals involved in their art usually means that they respect the animals and are proud to have them displayed. On the other hand, they can also be to bring out the spirit and to store them inside these sculptures. A common belief is that animals and Inuits co-exist meaning that without one, the other cannot exist. Therefore, the two are antagonistic pairs and must take care of each other and the way an Inuit would show that is by creating a sculpture of the animal and change the malleable stance into one that will most likely protect them. Therefore, these sculptures represent Arctic animals and any living create that lives with the Inuits.
Why is that important?
Inuit art will usually be focusing two main topics: lifestyle and animals. The reason that these two are significant is because this tells stories about the Inuits. This picture shows the life style of Inuit travelers. The story is that they used sealskin and a piece of ice to build a boat to hold all of them inside however, none of this would be exposed to foreigners unless these artistic sculptures showed a vivid imagery of their lifestyle. Therefore, the sculptures and paintings would be ideal to keep because they would be the only way to acknowledge Inuit lifestyle.
What are they used for?
Inuits and naturalists thought it was important to keep the Inuit lifestyle alive, so they collecting data and information to create drawings that portrayed their culture and traditional stories. This image shows a typical Inuit life and these images are the only way to preserve the existence and presence of the Inuit lifestyles. The usage of these arts would like to be longer therefore, the WAG (Winnipeg Art Gallery) are preserving these images and studying them to give us more accurate and varied information.