A rare glance inside Winnipeg Art Gallery's Inuit Art Centre

An innovative andinteractive space which is expected to become home to thelargest collection of Inuit art in the world is under construction at theWinnipeg Art Gallery.

The gallery's Inuit Art Centre promises to bring stories to the forefrontfrom across Inuit Nunangat the homeland of Inuit communities in Canada which encompasses 35 per cent of Canada's landmass and 50 per cent of its coastline.

"We're trying to create a space that will feel like or insinuate a sense of the North so that the work that's shown there feels like it's really in its context," the centre's architect Michael Maltzansaid.

"The landscape, the fluidity [and]the scalehave all had a real effect on the actual architecture," he said.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery holds trust in more than 13,000 Inuit artworks "each one with stories to tell" according to the gallery's website.

The Winnipeg gallery has had a significant connection to Inuit art, especially post-war contemporary art, Maltzansaid. The centre intends to continue building onthose longstanding relations.

Manitoba is home to 610 people who identified as Inuit in the 2016 census. With a total of 65,025 Inuit living across the country, the populationgrew by nearly 30per cent from 2006 to 2016.

Maltzansaid the projectis important to the Inuit culture, thehistory of the gallery and the city. He said he's pleased to see the progress of the construction and watch the project come to fruition.

"It's immensely gratifying,"Maltzansaid.

The Winnipeg centre's grand opening is set for fall 2020.