Finalists For The Sobey Art Award, Canada's Top Contemporary Art Prize, Revealed The Art Newspaper International Art News And Events

The 2026 Sobey Art Award has named six finalists drawn from across the country, with a shortlist that reflects both regional breadth and the shifting shape of contemporary art in Canada. Melaw Nakehk'o, Samuel Roy-Bois, Audie Murray, Lotus L. Kang, Caroline Monnet and Shane Perley-Dutcher were selected to represent the Circumpolar, Pacific, Prairies, Ontario, Québec and Atlantic regions, respectively.

Now in its 23rd year, the award remains Canada's most closely watched contemporary art prize. Each finalist will receive C$25,000, while the winner, to be announced at a ceremony in Ottawa on 14 November, will take home C$100,000. In addition, the 24 longlisted artists who were not selected for the final round will each receive C$10,000. A related exhibition of the shortlisted artists' work will be presented at the National Gallery of Canada later in 2026.

The jury, chaired by Jonathan Shaughnessy, director of curatorial initiatives at the National Gallery of Canada, described the group as“a dynamic cross-section of contemporary visual practice.” That description is borne out by the range of media on view: textile art, film-making, sculpture, installation and site-responsive work all appear in the mix.

The shortlist also points to the cultural diversity shaping the field. Four of the six finalists are of First Nations ancestry, while the group also includes artists with Asian and African backgrounds. Rather than reading as a single aesthetic position, the selection suggests a more layered conversation about material, memory and inherited forms.

Melaw Nakehk'o, a Dene/Dënesułińe artist and educator based in Yellowknife, works across textile arts, film-making and land-based pedagogy. Their practice brings“Dene ways of knowing” into soft sculptures sewn with caribou hide, documentary films, installations, digital art and moosehide tanning taught in community settings.

Samuel Roy-Bois, based in the Pacific region, is known for installation, sculpture and photography that probe the construction of space itself. A professor at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus and a past winner of the Shadbolt Foundation's Viva Award, he has exhibited internationally and is represented in major Canadian collections, including the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal.

Audie Murray, a Regina-based Métis and Cree artist from the Flying Dust First Nation, works with beadwork, drawing and installation to consider ancestral knowledge, memory and contemporary Indigenous life. Lotus L. Kang, whose practice spans sculpture, photography and site-responsive installation, was featured in the 2024 Whitney Biennial and has a major solo project in the Bvlgari Pavilion at this year's Venice Biennale.

Caroline Monnet and Shane Perley-Dutcher complete the shortlist, extending a field that is as geographically expansive as it is materially varied. The final announcement in Ottawa will determine which of these six artists receives the award's top honor, but the shortlist already offers a clear snapshot of where Canadian contemporary art is headed.

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