Marianne Nicolson
West Coast artist Marianne Nicolson is the recipient of a $25,000 prize from the Hnatyshyn Foundation for outstanding achievement by a Canadian mid-career artist.
Nicolson (Dzawada’enuxw) holds a PhD in linguistics and anthropology from the University of Victoria and is a well-known visual artist who uses her academic and artistic practice as a platform to advocate for Indigenous linguistic and cultural resurgence.
"All of her work is political in nature, and seeks to uphold a traditional Kwakwaka’wakw philosophy and worldview, through contemporary media and technologies," the foundation said.
Her work has been presented at the Sydney Biennale, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, and many others. Her monumental public works can be seen at Vancouver International Airport, the Canadian Embassy in Paris and the Canadian Embassy in Amman, Jordan.
The winner of the foundation's $15,000 award for curatorial excellence in contemporary art is Emelie Chhangur.
Chhangur is the newly appointed director and curator of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston, Ont., and previously worked at at the Art Gallery of York University.
She has received 25 awards from the Ontario Association of Art Galleries for her contributions in writing, publishing, exhibition-making and public programming.
"Over the past 20 years, Chhangur has emerged as a leading voice for experimental curatorial practice in Canada, and is celebrated nationally and internationally for her process-based, participatory curatorial projects," the foundation says.
The William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes of $5,000 each for young artists go to Jude Abu Zaineh, a Palestinian-Canadian multidisciplinary artist; Marlon Kroll, a German-Canadian artist based in Montreal; and Sam Bourgault, a doctoral student in the media arts and technology program at UC Santa Barbara.
The winners were selected by juries of art experts from across Canada.
The foundation is a private charity established by former governor general Ramon John Hnatyshyn. Since programming began in 2005, it has provided more than $3.6 million to Canadian visual artists, performing artists and curators.
Source: Hnatyshyn Foundation