Ruth B. Phillips is a Canadian art historian and curator, internationally recognized for her scholarship on North American Indigenous art, with a particular focus on the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. Her academic career has been primarily based at Carleton University, where she held the Canada Research Chair in Modern Culture, and as director of the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia. Her research has profoundly shaped the understanding of Indigenous art created for the market, analyzing it not as a degraded tourist product, but as a form of cultural expression and economic agency. Her seminal work, "Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900," is a landmark text in the field. Phillips is also a key figure in critical museology, promoting collaborative curatorial practices with Indigenous communities. For her outstanding contributions, she has been awarded Canada's highest honors, including her appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada and as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.