Modern Inuit art developed in the latter half of the 20th century as Indigenous peoples of the Canadian Arctic and subarctic regions began living in fixed communities in the late 1940s.
[2][3] As the number of artists increased and the Canadian government promoted stone carving[4] and work in other media, contemporary Inuit art grew in popularity in Canada and other countries.
Kuptana was born in a settlement near the former Distant Early Warning Line station at Cape Parry, Northwest Territories, Canada and later moved with his family to nearby Paulatuk.
[10] Some of Kuptana's pieces entered the market via commercial galleries including a leading source of First Nations artwork in Toronto, Bay of Spirits.
The piece known as "Self-portrait by Floyd Kuptana" was acquired in 2007 by Library and Archives Canada[12] and appeared in a 2018 joint exhibit at the Glenbow art and history museum in Calgary.