VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Audain Prize for the Visual Arts was announced today in Vancouver, recognizing distinguished Canadian artist Rebecca Belmore with a $100,000 cash prize. Member of the Lac Seul First Nation (Anishinaabe) and based between Vancouver and Toronto, Rebecca Belmore is a multidisciplinary artist recognized internationally for her performance art, photo-based work, and site-specific sculptural installations.
“It is wonderful to recognize Rebecca Belmore as the recipient of the 2024 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts,” said Michael Audain, Chairman of the Audain Foundation. “As a province, we have some of the leading contemporary artists in the world, and it is our privilege to celebrate their work at home in British Columbia. Rebecca Belmore’s work has had a pronounced influence in the visual arts, and across the broader social landscape.”
“We who work in the fields of art believe in its greatness,” said Rebecca Belmore. “Michael Audain’s ongoing generosity and support for the arts across Canada and commitment to Indigenous art is commendable. I thank him for this.”
Rooted in the political and social realities of Indigenous communities, for decades Belmore’s art has made evocative connections between bodies, land, and language. In 2023 for example, Belmore was commissioned by The Polygon Gallery, in collaboration with the Burrard Arts Foundation, to create a large-format public artwork in North Vancouver. The commission, Hacer Memoria, presented a series of blue and orange shirts made of tarpaulin, referencing the resilience of residential school survivors and offering an opportunity for the public to acknowledge Indigenous people.
Recent solo exhibitions include Turbulent Water at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia (2021), Reservoir at the Audain Art Museum in Whistler (2019), and Facing the Monumental at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto (2018). She has participated in international group exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial (2022), Istanbul Biennial (2019), documenta 14 (2017), and the Venice Biennale (2005). She also participated in aabaakwad, the foremost Indigenous-led gathering in the visual arts community, which was presented at the Venice Biennale in 2022.
Selected by an independent panel of jurors, the annual Audain Prize celebrates the outstanding achievements of British Columbia’s artists and is administered by the Audain Art Museum. The award represents the Audain Foundation’s ongoing commitment to raising the profile of Canadian artists.
In addition, five $7,500 travel grants for B.C. students in university-level visual arts programs were awarded at today’s ceremony. Recipients include: Simon Fraser University’s Avideh Saadatpajouh, the University of British Columbia Okanagan’s Roland Samuel, the University of British Columbia’s Yuan Wen, the University of Victoria’s Rainy Huang, and Emily Carr University of Art + Design’s Sun S Manuel.
Since its establishment in 2004, the Audain Prize has honoured some of B.C.’s most influential artists. Past recipients include Dana Claxton, Ian Wallace, James Hart, Stan Douglas, Susan Point, Carole Itter, Paul Wong, Michael Morris, Fred Herzog, Takao Tanabe, Gathie Falk, Marian Penner Bancroft, Rodney Graham, Robert Davidson, Liz Magor, Jeff Wall, Gordon Smith, Eric Metcalfe, E.J. Hughes, and Ann Kipling.
About The Audain Foundation
The Audain Foundation was established in 1997 for the purpose of supporting the visual arts in British Columbia with grants and endowments for capital projects and exhibitions at major public art galleries and educational institutions. More recently, the Foundation has expanded its scope to include support for the Canadian artist, Jean Paul Riopelle, as well as an interest in wildlife conservation within BC. The Foundation has made over $180 million in grants to date.
About the Audain Art Museum
Established in 2016, the Audain Art Museum in Whistler was founded via a major philanthropic gift of Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa. The Permanent Collection is focused on the art of British Columbia. Highlights include hereditary Haida Chief James Hart’s The Dance Screen, an exceptional collection of historical and contemporary Indigenous art, a comprehensive selection of paintings by Emily Carr and a brilliant range of works by Vancouver’s Photo-conceptualists. The Museum hosts numerous special exhibitions every year that feature artists and collections of national as well as international significance.
Media Contact and Additional Image Assets
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Email: justine@justinenichol.com Mobile: 604-789-4359
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