In 1988, at the invitation of the Canadian Science Council, Stirling spent six months with an Inuit community on Igloolik in the Canadian Arctic - the island's first ever Artist in Residence. Using photography and recorded sound, she explored a community which, although it retained its distinctive character, had to cope with the changes taking place in its midst under western influence. Stirling's work offered a challenge to traditional European conceptions of the Inuit north.
Ruth Stirling (Scottish, born 1957)
Ruth Stirling trained as a painter at Edinburgh College of Art. From 1985-6 she worked at the Marine Biological Station on the Isle of Cumbrae and later at the Gatty Marine Laboratory at St Andrews. The resulting installation, Passages, constituted a remarkable exploration of methods of photographic analysis used by scientists. More recently she has been commissioned to produce an artists' book in English and Braille for the National Health Service, and a documentary essay for London City Airport. In 1988 the Canadian Science Council invited Stirling to spend six months researching an Inuit community on Igloolik in the Canadian Arctic.