Tania Willard is the winner of the 100,000 CAD 2025 Sobey Art Award, Canada’s most established contemporary visual arts prize, now in its 24th year and 22nd running. The announcement was made on Saturday, November 8, during a celebration held at the National Gallery of Canada and a live online broadcast to Canadians. The remaining shortlisted artists—Tarralik Duffy, Chukwudubem Ukaigwe, Sandra Brewster, Swapnaa Tamhane and Hangama Amiri—each receive 25,000 CAD, bringing total prize money to 465,000 CAD.
The Sobey Art Award recognizes Canadian artists who are at a critical juncture in their careers, and whose work reflects on the contemporary moment, both nationally and globally. Tania Willard (Secwépemc and settler) weaves intergenerational knowledges of Secwépemc aunties in vibrant homage to their skill and innovation, past and present. Representing the Pacific region, she is based in Neskonlith, BC.
“On behalf of the Sobey Art Foundation, our warmest congratulations to Tania Willard, the winner of the 2025 Sobey Art Award,” said Rob Sobey, Chair, The Sobey Art Foundation. “I extend our warmest congratulations to the 30 deserving artists who were named to this year’s Sobey Art Award long- and shortlists. We are thrilled to support them by attracting national and international acclaim for their remarkable achievements. With the inclusion of Circumpolar as a sixth region once again, this has been an incredible year to truly engage with artists from coast to coast to coast. Our gratitude goes to the team at the National Gallery of Canada for again providing an important platform to discover Canada’s leading contemporary art voices.”
“Rooted in Secwépemc knowledge, values and aesthetics, Tania Willard’s multifaceted practice challenges us to expand our understanding of contemporary art and the role of the artist. She harvests berries to make ink drawings, harnesses wind and fire to compose poems and operas, and builds worlds with her BUSH Gallery collaborators. In the face of precarity, scarcity and conflict, her work offers a model of sustainability, abundance and connection. Above all, she amplifies the power of the land,” said Jonathan Shaughnessy, Director, Curatorial Initiatives, National Gallery of Canada; and Chair, 2025 Sobey Award Jury.
“It is an incredible feeling to be acknowledged alongside all the long and shortlisted artists for this award. I want to thank my husband and two sons and all my family—my practice and my life are richer because of you. I want to thank my community and nation Secwépemc people and all Indigenous people for carrying our languages and knowledges despite so many challenges that continue today—our culture is our power. I want to also thank the land, all lands that hold us. I also want to advocate and encourage all people to spend time with art—we need more of it in our lives, especially now in the face of austerity and injustice around the world,” said Tania Willard.
Tania Willard was selected as the winner of the 2025 Sobey Art Award by an independent jury, who reviewed all nominations and established the long- and shortlists, as well as selecting the winner, based on the artists’ respective careers to date.
Jury members are, from west to east: Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory (winner of the 2021 Sobey Art Award) for the Circumpolar region; Zoë Chan (curator at the Richmond Art Gallery) for the Pacific region; Alyssa Fearon (Director/Curator at the Dunlop Art Gallery) for the Prairies; Betty Julian (Senior Curator at the McMaster Museum of Art) for Ontario; Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre (Curator of Quebec and Canadian Contemporary Art and Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) for Quebec; Rose Bouthillier (Artistic Director, Bonavista Biennale) for the Atlantic region; and Carla Acevedo-Yates, curator, writer and researcher working across the Americas, international juror.
Captivating and thought-provoking worlds created by each six finalists are currently on view at the Gallery. Organized by the National Gallery of Canada and the Sobey Art Foundation, the 2025 Sobey Art Award Exhibition runs until February 8, 2026.
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.
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