Internationally-known Rebecca Belmore has been honoured with $100,000 and the Audain Prize for the Visual Arts.
The multidisciplinary creator is part of the Lac Seul First Nation (Anishinaabe) and is based between Vancouver and Toronto.
"We who work in the fields of art believe in its greatness,” says Belmore in a press release. “Michael Audain’s ongoing generosity and support for the arts across Canada and commitment to Indigenous art is commendable. I thank him for this.”
Audain, chairman of the eponymous Audain Foundation, remarks: "It is wonderful to recognize Rebecca Belmore as the recipient of the 2024 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts. 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.”
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 the Sept. 17 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.
