5 finalists named for Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award
Artists to each receive $5,000 prize; winner to be announced in September
Kinngait graphic artist Ningiukulu Teevee, shown at far right, was named the winner of the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award on Friday night. The award celebrates Inuit art and artists. Other artists who were shortlisted for the award were, from left, Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, Billy Gauthier, Kablusiak and Maureen Gruben. (Images courtesy of Inuit Art Foundation)
Five Inuit artists will each walk away with at least $5,000 after making the shortlist for the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award.
Funded in 2014 and named after celebrated Nunavut artist and printmaker Kenojuak Ashevak, the award is given every two years to support the work of an Inuk artist.
The winner — who will receive a $20,000 cash prize, a solo exhibition in 2025 and a dedicated residency, catalogue and acquisition to WAG-Qaumajuq’s permanent collection — will be announced at a ceremony in September.
The five finalists were announced Friday by the Inuit Art Foundation. They are:
- Ningiukulu Teevee, a graphic artist and writer based in Kinngait;
- Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, a multidisciplinary artist from Ottawa, who creates ceramics, prints, graphic art, wall-hangings and knitwear;
- Billy Gauthier, a carver from Nunatsiavut, N.L.;
- Maureen Gruben, an installation, performance and textile artist from Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T.
- Kablusiak, an Inuvialuk artist and curator now based in Calgary.
In addition to each receiving a $5,000 cash prize, the work of the finalists will form a group exhibition titled Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories) at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq, which runs until November.
This is the first year the award includes a special exhibition for the shortlisted artists.
Ten artists had made this year’s first-ever longlist, each earning a $2,500 prize and a feature in the spring 2023 issue of the Inuit Art Quarterly magazine. The other artists longlisted for the award were Manasie Akpaliapik, Deantha Edmunds, Glenn Gear, Gloria Inugaq Putumiraqtuq and Couzyn van Heuvelen.
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