Tania Willard wins the 2025 Sobey Art Award

Tania Willard is the winner of the 2025 Sobey Art Award. The $100,000 prize is the largest purse in Canada for contemporary art. 

The honour was handed out in Ottawa Saturday evening at the National Gallery of Canada, which presents the award in partnership with the Sobey Art Foundation.

Competing against artists from across the country, Willard was the finalist from the Pacific region. The Secwépemc artist lives on the Neskonlith reserve in the B.C. Interior.

“It is an incredible feeling to be acknowledged alongside all the long and shortlisted artists for this award,” Willard said in a statement. “I want to thank my husband and two sons and all my family — my practice and my life are richer because of you. I want to thank my community and nation [of] Secwépemc people and all Indigenous people for carrying our languages and knowledges despite so many challenges that continue today — our culture is our power. 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.”

Jonathan Shaughnessy, director of curatorial initiatives at the National Gallery of Canada and chair of the 2025 Sobey Art Award jury, said in a statement:

“Rooted in Secwépemc knowledge, values and aesthetics, Tania Willard’s multifaceted practice challenges us to expand our understanding of contemporary art and the role of the artist. She harvests berries to make ink drawings, harnesses wind and fire to compose poems and operas, and builds worlds with her BUSH Gallery collaborators. 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.”

Each of the runners-up — Hangama Amiri (Atlantic), Tarralik Duffy (Circumpolar), Sandra Brewster (Ontario), Swapnaa Tamhane (Quebec) and Chukwudubem Ukaigwe (Prairies) — will receive $25,000. An exhibition featuring the work of all six finalists remains on view at the National Gallery of Canada through Feb. 8, 2026. 

With artists named to the long list each receiving $10,000, the Sobey Art Award is one of the world's largest monetary prizes for contemporary art, handing out a total $465,000 in prize money.

Past winners include Brian Jungen, David Altmejd, Divya Mehra and 2024 recipient Nico Williams. 

Read more CBC Arts coverage of the Sobey Art Award, including Q&As with the finalists. 

The Sobey Art Award exhibition continues at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa through Feb. 8, 2025.