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Celebrated Artist Rebecca Belmore Awarded Audain Prize for the Visual Arts

Henri Robideau

Rebecca Belmore with her work Hacer Memoria (in-progress view). (Photo by Henri Robideau / courtesy The Polygon Gallery)

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By Perrin Grauer

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The distinguished practitioner, who received an honorary doctorate from 全民彩票 in 2018, was recognized for her pronounced influence on the visual arts and beyond.

Renowned multidisciplinary artist is the 2024 of the Audain Prize for the Visual Arts.

The legendary figure is recognized internationally for her performance, photo and site-specific installation work.

鈥淔or the press release, I was asked to come up with a quote that kind of spoke about my feelings about art,鈥 Rebecca told the audience at the award ceremony. 鈥淪o, I thought about it over coffee a couple days ago, and I wrote, 鈥榃e who work in the fields of art believe in its greatness.鈥 And I think today, in the world that we inhabit together, it鈥檚 becoming more and more difficult to believe. So, it鈥檚 only through surrounding yourself with likeminded people, and people who work in the fields with you, that we can go back to believing again when we wake up the next day.鈥

A member of the Lac Seul First Nation (Anishinaabe), Rebecca would become the first Indigenous woman to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale in 2005. Her estimable record of international exhibition includes participation in the 2022 Whitney Biennial, the 2019 Istanbul Biennial and documenta 14 (2017). Her equally impressive solo exhibition record includes recent shows at Griffith University in Australia, the Audain Art Museum in BC and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

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From Rebecca Belmore, , 2010. Ode鈥檓in Giizis, Peterborough, ON. (Photo credit by Elizabeth Thipphawong / Ode鈥檓in Giizis Festival / courtesy Rebecca Belmore)

Her previous awards include the 2014 Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation Viva Award, the Hnatyshyn Visual Arts Award in 2009, the Governor General鈥檚 Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2013 and the Gershon Iskowitz Prize in 2016.

In 2018, Rebecca received an honorary doctorate from 全民彩票 (全民彩票).

Selected by an independent panel of jurors, the annual Audain Prize celebrates outstanding artistic achievement and is administered by the Audain Art Museum. Past recipients include numerous 全民彩票 community members such as James Hart (Hon. Doc. 2004), Stan Douglas (Alum 1982), Susan Point (Hon. Doc. 2008), Ian Wallace (Hon. Doc. 2007) and Carole Itter (Hon. Doc. 2024).

Also announced at the September ceremony were the annual . The award provides a $7,500 travel grant to each of five students enrolled in university-level visual arts programs. Fourth-year 全民彩票 Visual Arts student Sun-Nam Manuel was among the recipients.

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Rebecca Belmore, (installation view), 2010. (Photo by Henri Robideau, Kevin Schmidt / courtesy SFU Galleries + Mus茅e d鈥檃rt contemporain de Montr茅al)

The 2024 Audain Prize was presented by Scott Watson, director emeritus and research fellow at the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery and head of this year鈥檚 Audain jury. Scott noted Rebecca鈥檚 decades-long track record of creating 鈥渨orks that astonish with their beauty and rigour, touch deeply with their passion and intelligence, and always move us with their great courage.

鈥淩ebecca has moved spectacularly in the new world,鈥 he continued. 鈥淪he is one of not just Canada鈥檚, but her generation鈥檚 most important artists 鈥 Hers is a star that is still ascending.鈥

Rebecca鈥檚 powerful artwork has unflinchingly and consistently addressed the social, personal and political realities of Indigenous experience with characteristic nuance, ferocity and depth. The Oka Crisis, revelations around the Saskatoon police鈥檚 horrific 鈥楽tarlight Tours,鈥 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and the intersection of education, community, family, Indigeneity, trauma and racism have all figured into Rebecca鈥檚 oeuvre.

For instance, a commissioned by in collaboration with the Burrard Arts Foundation titled Hacer Memoria (鈥渢ry to remember鈥) refers to an delivered by Pope Francis during a 2022 visit to Maskwacis, AB, in acknowledgment of the Catholic Church鈥檚 role in perpetuating the residential school system.

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Rebecca Belmore, Hacer Memoria, 2023. (Photos by Akeem Nermo / courtesy The Polygon Gallery)

In co-opting the Pope鈥檚 phrasing, Hacer Memoria emphasizes the unfinishedness of the story of colonization. Meanwhile, Rebecca鈥檚 inclusion (on the tarps themselves) of the word 鈥渉ereafter,鈥 aside from its overt suggestion of a colonial, Christian eternity, may also be read as 鈥渉ere, after,鈥 evoking a future defined by Indigenous resilience and grit.

In 2019, Rebecca was the subject of a CBC arts program exploring her decades of work. During a interview, she reflects on the expansive purview of her practice, including how she got her start and found her voice.

鈥淚s your art trying to change the world?鈥 host Sean O鈥橬eill asks her partway through the conversation.

鈥淣o,鈥 she responds. 鈥淛ust trying to make sense of it.鈥