Five shortlisted Sobey award artists explore queer representation, Canadian identity

OTTAWA – Five visual artists shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award are being recognized for contemporary work that includes explorations of queer representation, the diasporic experience and Canadian identity.

The National Gallery of Canada and the Sobey Art Foundation announced five candidates for the $100,000 prize, to be handed out in November.

Each of the four runners-up receive $25,000 and works by all five shortlisted artists will be part of an exhibition at the national gallery from Oct. 13 to March 3, 2024.

The contenders include Calgary-based Inuvialuk artist Kablusiak, who was also shortlisted in 2019, and Métis artist and writer Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, born in Comox, B.C., who was longlisted in 2019.

Fellow nominee Halifax-based Séamus Gallagher of Moncton, N.B. — known for infusing queer esthetics with self-portraiture — won the national gallery’s New Generation Photography Award last year.

Also in the running is Montreal-based Anahita Norouzi, who uses sculpture, installation, photography and video to explore marginalized histories; and Toronto-based, Trinidad-born Michèle Pearson Clarke, who focuses her photography, video and installation on Black and queer experiences.

The short list was chosen by an independent jury consisting of curators from five regions across Canada, as well as an international juror.

The Sobey Art Award was created in 2002 with funding from the Sobey Art Foundation and has been jointly administered by the foundation and national gallery since 2016.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2023.

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