2025 Sobey Art Award Shortlist Released
The shortlist for the 2025 Sobey Art Award has been released.
The National Gallery of Canada and the Sobey Art Foundation have named:
Tarralik Duffy for the Circumpolar region. “A multidisciplinary artist and designer from Salliq, Nunavut, Duffy uses various mediums like drawing, photography, sculpture, textiles, printmaking, and salvaged materials to explore contemporary Inuit culture and pop culture,” according to the release.
Tania Willard for the Pacific region. “Willard, a mixed Secwépemc and settler artist, uses land-based art to promote Indigenous resurgence through collaborative projects like BUSH Gallery and language revitalization in Secwépemc communities.”
Chukwudubem Ukaigwe for the Prairies. “Born in Nigeria, Ukaigwe is an artist, curator, and writer influenced by experimental music, literature, history, and futurism. His work aims to create immersive audiovisual environments, examining subject-object divides and fracturing time and relativity.”
Sandra Brewster for Ontario. “The child of Guyanese parents, Brewster is a Toronto-based Canadian artist. Her practice reflects a multilayered sense of identity, born of a collision between place and time.”
Swapnaa Tamhane for Quebec. “Tamhane’s practice is dedicated to materials such as cotton and jute, leading to the making of handmade paper, archival research, and textile installations. She also collaborates closely with artisans in Gujarat, India, in a skill-sharing process.”
Hangama Amiri for the Atlantic region. “Amiri works predominantly in textiles, examining notions of home, and how gender, social norms, and geopolitical conflict affect the daily lives of women in Afghanistan and the diaspora.”
Each shortlisted artist receives $25,000 and each long-listed artist receives $10,000. A total of $465,000 in prize money will be awarded. The winner, to be announced at a celebration Nov. 8, 2025, will receive $100,000.
“We’re excited to work with each of these artists and bring their richly diverse material practices together this fall for the always highly anticipated Sobey Award exhibition,” said Jonathan Shaughnessy, Director, Curatorial Initiatives, National Gallery of Canada; and Chair, 2025 Sobey Award Jury.
“Through paintings, drawings, textiles, video, sculpture and multidisciplinary installations, their works capture the vitality of artmaking in this country today while touching on subjects pertinent to contemporary Canadian identity.”
This year’s jury included Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory; Zoë Chan; Alyssa Fearon; Betty Julian; Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre; Rose Bouthillier; and Carla Acevedo-Yates.
Source: National Gallery of Canada
PS: Worried you missed something? See previous Galleries West stories here or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter.
