Stephanie Comilang wins 2019 Sobey Art Award

The Sobey Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada are delighted to announce that Stephanie Comilang is the recipient of the 2019 Sobey Art Award. The 2019 Sobey Art Award grand prize winner was revealed Friday evening at a ceremony at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton. Each of the four remaining shortlisted artists, Nicolas Grenier, Kablusiak, Anne Low and D’Arcy Wilson, were awarded $25,000 CAD.

The Sobey Art Award recognizes Canadian artists who are forty years old or younger, selected by a jury of Canadian and international curators and gallery directors. The award represents the breadth of contemporary practices from Canada’s five geographical regions, selecting a shortlist that engages with a variety of ideas and approaches. The 2019 jury, chaired by National Gallery of Canada’s Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Josée Drouin-Brisebois, is composed of Peter Dykhuis, Director/Curator, Dalhousie Art Gallery, for the Atlantic Provinces; Jo-Ann Kane, Curator, National Bank Collection, for the Quebec region; Swapnaa Tamhane, Independent Curator, Artist, and Writer, for the Ontario region; Lindsey Sharman, Curator, Art Gallery of Alberta, for the Prairies and the North region; Nigel Prince, Executive Director, Contemporary Art Gallery, for the West Coast and Yukon; and international juror, Henriette Bretton-Meyer, Curator, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark.

QUOTES

“Through what she calls science-fiction documentaries, Stephanie Comilang speaks to how the world is increasingly experienced through technology. By using the point of view of a drone – the ancient sentient being Paraiso who acts as both recorder and protagonist – the artist shows how communities, made up of mainly migrant women, carve out space in locations that are never really home. The jury was impressed by her ambitious practice which engages in a complex manner with what has been lost through colonization.” – 2019 Sobey Art Award Jury

“On behalf of the Sobey Art Foundation, I am delighted to congratulate Stephanie Comilang on winning the 2019 Sobey Art Award. Our first time exhibiting the SAA in Alberta has been an extraordinary and overwhelming success and we’re thrilled that all of this year’s shortlisted artists have been able to showcase their practices here.” – Rob Sobey, Chair of the Sobey Art Foundation

“The Art Gallery of Alberta sincerely congratulates the 2019 Sobey Art Award winner on this momentous occasion. We are extremely proud to be the 2019 host of the prestigious Sobey Art Award exhibition, which represents such a diverse and amazing group of young Canadian artists. With the winner now being announced, we hope everyone comes to see the exhibition to experience the work of these five most impressive artists.” – Catherine Crowston, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Art Gallery of Alberta

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