Canada’s preeminent contemporary arts award recognizes artist for practice that confounds old categories and points to new imaginaries.
Kablusiak is the grand winner of the 100,000 CAD 2023 Sobey Art Award, Canada’s preeminent prize for contemporary visual arts. The announcement was made Saturday evening by 2022 Sobey Art Award winner Divya Mehra during a special celebration at the National Gallery of Canada (NGC). The remaining shortlisted artists—Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Michèle Pearson Clark, Anahita Norouzi, Séamus Gallagher—will each receive 25,000 CAD.
The Sobey Art Award recognizes Canadian visual artists at a critical juncture in their careers and whose work reflects upon and speaks of our contemporary moment nationally and globally. Kablusiak is a multidisciplinary Inuvialuk artist and curator who uses Inuk ingenuity to create work in a variety of mediums, including lingerie, white flour, soapstone, felt, acrylic paint, and words. The artist’s work explores dis/connections and family and community ties within the Inuit diaspora, as well as the impact of colonization on Inuit expressions of gender and sexuality, on health and wellbeing, and on daily life. Kablusiak was born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, and they are currently based in Calgary, Alberta.
“On behalf of the Board of the Sobey Art Foundation, our warmest congratulations to Kablusiak, the winner of the 2023 Sobey Art Award,” said Bernard Doucet, Executive Director, Sobey Art Foundation (SAF). “Congratulations as well to the four finalists and each of the Canadian artists longlisted for this edition of the award. The diverse perspectives and creativity demonstrated in the artistic practices of these artists are extraordinary. It has been with great pride that we’ve worked to connect them with audiences and other cultural producers across the country and beyond.”
“The 2023 Sobey Art Award jury felt compelled by Kablusiak’s fearless and unapologetic practice that confounds old categories and art histories and points to new imaginaries. Their multidisciplinary vocabulary deploys the experience of being looked at without being seen that shapes Inuit and queer realities in both the art world and society at large. Their attention to materiality and embodiment, along with a critical use of humour, are world-building and -affirming. The jury welcomes the provocations that Kablusiak’s work introduces into prevailing languages of contemporary art,” said Jonathan Shaughnessy, NGC’s Director, Curatorial Initiatives, and Chair of the 2023 Sobey Award Jury.
“Winning this award is a dream, and being among amazing peers makes this award especially special. The support given by the Sobey Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada is substantial, and is provided with such care. This opportunity allows so many doors to open and I am grateful for every moment,” said Kablusiak, winner of the 2023 Sobey Art Award.
Kablusiak was selected as the winner of the 2023 Sobey Art Award by an independent jury of esteemed Canadian curators from coast to coast to coast and an international juror. They reviewed all nominations and established the long and short lists as well as the winner based on the artists’ respective careers to date.
The 2023 Sobey Art Award jury, from West to East:
Matthew Hyland, Executive Director, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (West Coast & Yukon);
Haema Sivanesan, Director, Leighton Studios and Program Partnerships, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff (Prairies and the North);
Wanda Nanibush, curator, Toronto (Ontario);
Eve-Lyne Beaudry, Curator, Contemporary Art, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec (Quebec);
Pamela Edmonds, Director and Curator, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax (Atlantic); and
Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director and Chief Curator of High Line Art, New York City, and Curator of the 59th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2022 (New York).
The 2023 Sobey Art Award Exhibition, on view at the NGC, runs until March 3, 2024.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Josée-Britanie Mallet, National Gallery of Canada, bmallet [at] gallery.ca
