Secwépemc and settler artist Tania Willard received national recognition as the winner of Canada’s top prize for visual arts.<\/p>\n
In a ceremony held Saturday, Nov. 8, the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) announced Willard won this year’s Sobey Art Award, recognized for the “strength, resonance and clarity of vision of her multifaceted practice” that “challenges us to expand our understanding of contemporary art and the role of the artist.”<\/p>\n
Founded in 2002 with funding from the Sobey Art Foundation, the award aims to promote new developments in contemporary visual art, and attract national and international attention to Canadian artists.<\/p>\n
One of this year’s six finalists, Willard was selected by an independent jury to receive the Sobey Art Award’s $100,000 grand prize.<\/p>\n
“It is an incredible feeling to be acknowledged alongside all the long and shortlisted artists for this award,” said Willard in an NGC news release. “I want to thank my husband and two sons and all my family – my practice and my life are richer because of you.<\/p>\n
“I want to thank my community and nation Secwépemc people and all Indigenous people for carrying our languages and knowledges despite so many challenges that continue today – our culture is our power.<\/p>\n
I want to also thank the land, all lands that hold us. I also want to advocate and encourage all people to spend time with art –we need more of it in our lives, especially now in the face of austerity and injustice around the world.”<\/p>\n
NGC director and Sobey Award jury chair Jonathan Shaughnessy said Willard’s work, “rooted in Secwépemc knowledge, values and aesthetics… challenges us to expand our understanding of contemporary art and the role of the artist.”<\/p>\n
“She harvests berries to make ink drawings, harnesses wind and fire to compose poems and operas, and builds worlds… In the face of precarity, scarcity and conflict, her work offers a model of sustainability, abundance and connection. Above all, she amplifies the power of the land.”<\/p>\n
Willard, who has a gallery in Chase, is one of the artists behind the Secwépemc Landmarks Project.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Willard received the 2025 President’s Alumni Award from the University of Victoria, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts.<\/p>\n
In 2016, Willard received the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art. In 2020, the Shadbolt Foundation awarded her a VIVA Award for outstanding achievement and commitment in her art practice. In 2022, she was named a Forge Project Fellow for her land-based, community-engaged artistic practice. In 2023, BUSH Gallery named Willard a Future Studies recipient from the Ruth Foundation for the Arts.<\/p>\n
“I learned a lot about myself in (UVic’s) art program,” shared Willard in her UVic bio. “Four years is enough time to decide whether you are dedicated to art or you aren’t. I made it through that program and knew it was still something I was passionate about.<\/p>\n
“I also knew I wanted it to serve not only art for art’s sake but to widen it out to think about social engagement, think about activism, think about community – and that was through my Indigenous heritage as a Secwépemc person. In those days, there was a lot of activity on campus in music and art, in activism and in Indigenous rights, and I found my voice through those spaces.”<\/p>\n