October 4, 2024–April 6, 2025
Ottawa K1N 9N4
Canada
Compelling works by the six visual artists shortlisted for the 2024 Sobey Art Award—Canada’s preeminent contemporary art award—are now on view at the National Gallery of Canada (NGC).
Organized by the Gallery and the Sobey Art Foundation (SAF), the 2024 Sobey Art Award Exhibition runs until April 6, 2025. This year’s award winner will be announced on November 9, 2024 during a celebration at the Gallery.
The 2024 Sobey Art Award Exhibition highlights each of the finalists’ dynamic practices—including beadwork, ceramic, drawing, experimental film, mixed-media installations, photography and sculpture—which bring invaluable insights into matters of place, identity, community and belonging.
“The Sobey Art Award Exhibition is an important platform for all to discover Canada’s leading contemporary art voices. The Sobey Art Foundation, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Canada, is proud to present this year's dynamic exhibition, which brings even greater awareness to the great diversity of artists and their practices in our country,” said Bernard Doucet, The Sobey Art Foundation’s Executive Director. “We invite art-lovers from far and wide to come to be moved and challenged by their works.”
“Together with the Sobey Art Foundation, we are delighted to partner on the 21st edition of the Sobey Art Award and its exhibition,” said Jonathan Shaughnessy, NGC’s Director, Curatorial Initiatives, and Chair of the 2024 Sobey Award Jury. “This major undertaking provides the opportunity for visitors to experience the artists’ works directly. The exhibition will be accompanied by a cross-country learning program to connect finalists with represented regions through artist-driven projects. We celebrate and recognize the exceptional contributions of the finalists to the visual arts in Canada and on the world stage.”
Featured artists
Taqralik Partridge (Inuk, Scottish), shortlisted for the Circumpolar region, expresses the intergenerational importance of caribou to Inuit and other Arctic Indigenous peoples through an amautik (women’s parka) and video in Tuktujuq. It references an amautik design from Partridge’s community. The accompanying audio and video evoke the sensation of being surrounded by caribou, an experience impacted by colonialism, capitalism and climate change.
Judy Chartrand (Cree), finalist for the Pacific region, flips the script, using humour, satire and pop-culture imagery to confront colonial narratives, racism and stereotypes. Her works, including DTES Influencer Selfie, In Memory of Those No Longer With Us, and Indian Residential School Boys Praying We Get the Hell Out of Here, depict urban Indigenous experiences of poverty, violence, and discrimination, and of the children forced to attend Canadian residential schools.
Rhayne Vermette (Métis), finalist for the Prairies region, creates poetic work focusing on family, home, distance and identity through multilayered storytelling. Drawing from architecture, she combines documentary and fiction to create dreamlike effects. Le Miracle à Ste. Anne, a segment from her atmospheric first feature-length film Ste. Anne (2021), is a collaborative project in Treaty 1 territory, includes themes such as familial tensions, memory, home and identity.
June Clark, shortlisted for the Ontario region, adopts a multidisciplinary practice to explore the intersection of personal and family histories, memory and identity. Her autobiographical works, like 2191 Reprise, reflect her childhood in Harlem and her move to Toronto. Clark’s work uses Xerox photo-transfers and graphite stencilled texts to vividly depict incidents from her childhood. The work eloquently illustrates the elusive nature of memory and the shared values of community.
Nico Williams ᐅᑌᒥᐣ (Anishinaabe), a finalist for the Quebec region, creates beadwork sculptures of everyday objects, often collaboratively made, incorporating historical and political narratives, cultural observations and connections to kinship and place. His sculptures, such as Bang on Man!!!, Barrier, Caution Tape, and Uncle, question access to space and draw attention to the transformation of Indigenous lands through construction and urbanization.
Mathieu Léger, shortlisted artist for the Atlantic region, navigates his Acadian heritage and how it influences present experiences through physical actions. His bodies of work Performing the Act That Makes the Mark, Which Makes the Sound and Obstacles & Amendments, reflect his study of rhythmic dexterity and spatial awareness. Léger’s work explores genetics, biology, history and time. The artist would like to acknowledge the support of artsnb, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation, with additional thanks to Artcast Inc. and TrüRoot Cymbals.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Josée-Britanie Mallet, Senior Officer, Media and Public Relations, National Gallery of Canada: bmallet@gallery.ca
Pénélope Carreau, Officer, Public Relations, National Gallery of Canada: pcarreau@gallery.ca
About The Sobey Art Award.
About the National Gallery of Canada.
