Lew Phillip (b. 1947) was born in Iqaluit, NU, and began making art in 1959. He was the first Inuit member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as well as a well-known Elder and knowledge holder, working to bring Inuktitut and healing programs to Inuit inmates. In 2014, his sculpture of the St. Jude’s Anglican Cathedral in Iqaluit was included in the exhibition Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut at 15, representing Canada at the Venice Biennale in Architecture. A lifelong hunter, Phillip populates his work with Arctic wildlife, especially polar bears, which he carves in marble and ivory. His time on the land has given him an in-depth knowledge of polar bear anatomy, which he uses to depict bears in a more naturalistic way in his carvings.