Inuit Art in Brussels: Women, Gender and Arctic Life

Women artists take a leading role in “Inuit: Impressions of the Canadian Far North” at Brussels’ Musée Art & Histoire. Bringing together nearly 250 works, the exhibition explores an artistic landscape where mythology, gender relations and social change meet.

Who gets to picture a place, and whose perspective shapes the image? At Brussels’ Musée Art & Histoire, “Inuit: Impressions of the Canadian Far North” approaches the Canadian Arctic through the work and words of artists from Nunavut and Nunavik. Women occupy a prominent place in this story, reflecting their leading contribution to Inuit graphic art.

The exhibition brings together nearly 250 prints, drawings and sculptures spanning around 70 years. For visitors more familiar with Inuit sculpture, its emphasis on works on paper offers another starting point. It also gives visibility to a field in which women have played a central creative role across generations, helping to shape both its imagery and its development.

That presence gives the exhibition a particular interest for audiences attentive to gender and representation. Women appear here as image-makers, contributing their own perspectives to an artistic history that remains relatively unfamiliar to European audiences. The selection opens up questions about whose work circulates internationally and how much of an artistic tradition we actually get to see.

Gender relations are among the subjects addressed in the exhibition, alongside the consequences of settlement, social transformation and climate change. These concerns share the galleries with Arctic wildlife, shamanism and mythology. Together, they reveal artists engaging with inherited stories and the circumstances of contemporary life, across a period of substantial change.

The artists’ own comments accompany works throughout the display. Their presence matters in a museum context where Inuit art has often been approached through explanations of culture and tradition. Here, visitors can also encounter what individual makers have said about their work. The emphasis shifts towards artistic choices, personal perspectives and the different concerns that an image can hold.

A reconstructed large igloo forms the starting point for a route through thematic sections devoted to animals, birds, the polar night and changing environmental and social conditions. A section on printing techniques adds a practical perspective, drawing attention to how the images are made. The exhibition’s scale allows these different subjects and approaches to sit alongside one another without suggesting a single Inuit experience.

For KET readers, the gender thread offers a way into a wider artistic conversation. The exhibition places women’s creative work within seven decades of Inuit art and includes gender relations among the realities artists explore. Looking closely at who makes these images, and listening to what they say about them, brings a different Arctic into view: one shaped by individual voices and ongoing debate.

Practical information

Exhibition: Inuit: Impressions of the Canadian Far North
Venue: Musée Art & Histoire, Brussels, Belgium
Dates: 16 October 2026 to 18 April 2027
Programme: Workshops, talks, screenings, encounters and cultural events. The exhibition also includes four activity stations for children and visit workshops for people with visual impairments.