Sobey Art Award 2021

Inuk artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory a highlight at prestigious national art contest.

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Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory appears in fiery orange traditional dress, set off by a wide belt and footwear known as kamiik. She’s made up with stark red lipstick, her cheeky smile goading viewers to come hither. The Iqaluit-based artist raises a small drum, beats it gently, and then delves further into the movement. It’s hauntingly rhythmic and oozes sensuality. 

The video, projected onto a stretched polar bear skin, is heady stuff. The dark setting, repetitive sounds and steamy atmosphere activate the senses. On view at the National Gallery of Canada until Feb. 22 as part of the Sobey Art Award exhibition, Nannuppugut! evokes the dark months of winter when life outdoors gives way to interior warmth. Circle around to the far side of the installation, and you’ll see glimmers of the video where the skin has lost its fur. The flashes, abstracted by the lack of context, create a mysterious flickering, suggesting the light of a fire.

Laakkuluk, a kalaaleq (Greenlandic Inuk), the winner of this year’s Sobey Art Award, and her remarkable practice draws on her heritage – notably through her performance of uaajeerneq, a Greenlandic mask dance – and embraces performance, tactile creations and spoken and written word.

Nannuppugut!, which translates as We killed a polar bear!, takes its name from her real-life encounter with a polar bear that tried to enter her family’s cabin at night. After she killed the bear – considered a great honour in her culture – it was butchered ceremonially and shared with the community. The dance she performs in the video honours the bear’s spirit.

It’s no wonder Laakkuluk was chosen by the Sobey jury to represent the Prairies and the North, one of the contest’s five regional categories. As with her collaborations with Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq, another powerful creative force from the North, this installation demonstrates her determination to maintain a sense of self while sharing traditions in completely innovative ways. 

Vancouver’s Gabi Dao, finalist for the West Coast and Yukon, also incorporates a range of media. Her installation, a sentimental dissidence, combines what often seems like documentary film with objects, including two screens fabricated from beads, miniature speakers that emit unintelligible voices, and empty cans of coconut water. 

Dao, only seven years out of art school, where she studied the basics – painting and sculpture – has since branched out into multimedia work with a focus on film and installation. Her films are not a backdrop – they are meant to be watched from start to finish. Characters offer a history of the coconut industry, a lesson in supply-and-demand economics, and memories of the American war with Vietnam, some presented as personal narratives, along with a mix of contemporary and historical footage and religious images. 

Is this, in fact, documentation? Or an alternative way to tell a story? Or simply a visual and aural experience? Viewers will likely walk away with more questions than when they entered. It will be interesting to watch Dao evolve as her career develops.

The remaining three artists on the shortlist are no less intriguing. Ontario finalist Rajni Perera, born in Sri Lanka and now based in Toronto, examines the ever-evolving diasporic experience through paintings and sculptures that embody the rich colours of her homeland. Her reflections of life as an immigrant are intertwined with statements about dwindling resources, capitalism and colonialism. 

Montreal-based artist Lorna Bauer, representing Quebec, uses photography and sculpture to examine how humanity relates to its surroundings. Her projects are site specific and incorporate exclusively analogue technology. Three-dimensional vase-like objects made from glass are presented with photographs that are not quite abstract, yet not fully representational.

Rémi Belliveau, originally from New Brunswick, is an interdisciplinary artist representing the Atlantic region. As a writer, musician, curator and creator, Belliveau deconstructs Acadian heritage to inspire critical thinking around identity. Based on many years of research, Belliveau’s work deconstructs the story of a fictional Acadian musician, Jean Dularge, through film and objects.

The Sobey Art Award, created in 2001 by the late Donald Sobey, a Nova Scotia businessman, and Pierre Théberge, a former director of the National Gallery, is one of the most prestigious – and richest – art prizes in the world. The winner takes home $100,000. ■  

2021 Sobey Art Award Exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada from Oct. 8, 2021 to Feb. 20, 2022. Videos about the artists are available here.

Correction Oct. 27, 2021, 1:58 p.m. An earlier version of this article identified Laakkuluk's footwear as mukluks. They are actually kamiik.The post has been updated to reflect this.

Update Nov. 6, 2021, 7:49 p.m. The story has been updated to reflect that Laakkulukluk has won the Sobey Art Award.

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