Rebecca Belmore (photo by Scott Benesiinabandan)
Rebecca Belmore has been named the 2024 winner of the Audain Prize for the Visual Arts.
The announcement was made Tuesday at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Administered by the Audain Arts Museum, the annual prize recognizes Belmore as one of BC's most distinguished artists. The award comes with a $100,000 cash prize.
“It is wonderful to recognize Rebecca Belmore as the recipient of the 2024 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts,” said Audain Foundation chairman Michael Audain. “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.”
From the Lac Seul (Anishinaabe) First Nation, Belmore is a multidisciplinary artist lauded around the world for her performance art, photo-based work and installations. She splits her time between Vancouver and Toronto.
“Rooted in the political and social realities of Indigenous communities, for decades Belmore’s art has made evocative connections between bodies, land, and language,” according to the news release.
“In 2023, for instance, 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.”
Belmore's recent exhibitions include Turbulent Water at Griffith University in Australia, Reservoir at the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, BC, and Facing the Monumental at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. She has participated in myriad international group exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial in 2022 and the Venice Biennale in 2005.
The Audain Prize was established in 2004 by the Audain Foundation. It has honoured some of Canada's top artists, including Takao Tanabe, Dana Claxton, Stan Douglas, Gathie Falk and others. It is one of only three arts awards in Canada to offer a six-figure cash prize. The Audain Foundation has awarded more than $160 million in grants since it began in 1997.
This year's prize also includes five $7,500 travel grants for BC students in university-level visual arts programs. This year's winners include Avideh Saadatpajouh, Roland Samuel, Yuan Wen, Rainy Huang and Sun S Manuel.
Source: The Audain Foundation
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