Sobey Art Award – West Coast and Yukon
Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Krystle Silverfox
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Interdisciplinary artist Krystle Silverfox is a member of the Selkirk First Nation (Wolf Clan). She currently lives and works on the territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in (Dawson City, Yukon). Silverfox has a BFA in Visual Art (2015), a B.A. in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice from UBC (2013), and an MFA in Interdisciplinary studies from Simon Fraser University (2019).
Her artistic practice explores different materials, methodologies, and symbols to create conceptual works. Silverfox is inspired by Indigenous feminism, trans-nationalism, de-colonialism, activism and lived experience.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Derya Akay
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Derya Akay lives on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Selected group and solo exhibitions include What Water Knows, The Land Remembers — the Toronto Biennial of Art (2022), Meydan at The Polygon Gallery in Vancouver (2021), Contact Traces at the CCA Wattis Institute in San Francisco (2021), The Neighbour’s Plate at Unit 17 in Vancouver (2020), The Lulennial II: A Low-Hanging Fruit at Lulu in Mexico City (2018), HERE: Locating Contemporary Canadian Artists at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (2017), with bread at the Campbell River Art Gallery in Campbell River, British Columbia (2017), and Pumice at Del Vaz Projects in Los Angeles (2017).
Derya Akay, Seyyar (eskici), 2021. Wood, bicycle parts, rotating selection of offerings, 140 x 80 x 190 cm. © Derya Akay. Photo: Courtesy Unit 17, Rachel Topham Photography
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Derya Akay, Hanging fruit , 2020. 3D-printed replica of coat hanger, cedar coat hanger, copper, plastic fruit and vegetables, mesh bags, plastic bags, plastic balls, pomegranate, screws, sheep’s wool, wine bottles, 70 x 60 x 40cm. © Derya Akay. Photo: Courtesy Unit 17, Rachel Topham Photography
Photo: Angie Rico
Rydel Cerezo
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Rydel Cerezo works on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. Cerezo’s work investigates the spaces between sexuality, religion and race, with an interest in how these disparate themes metaphorically and visually coalesce.
Cerezo’s work Am I a Sea has been exhibited internationally at Aperture Foundation in New York City and at the Vogue Italia Festival in Milan, and was first runner-up for The Polygon Gallery’s Lind Prize. Cerezo has a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Photo: Damon Forster
Karin Jones
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Karin Jones is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in jewellery. She received a Diploma in Jewellery Art and Design from Vancouver Community College in 1993, before embarking on a more than twenty-year career as a goldsmith and independent artisan. Since 2007, her work has moved away from traditional jewellery and into contemporary art.
In 2018, Jones received an MFA in Craft from NSCAD University, where she began her recent work dealing with the ways historical narratives shape our sense of identity. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Metal Museum (Memphis, Tennessee).
Karin Jones, The Golden Section 7, 2021. Vinyl mesh, human hair, 122 cm x 122 cm. Collection of the Artist. Photo: Dennis Ha
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Karin Jones, Worn: Shaping Black Feminine Identity, 2015. Cotton, synthetic hair, cotton bolls, human hair, dimensions variable. 2016.13.1 Courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum and the artist. Installation view at the Royal Ontario Museum. Photo: Eydis Einarsdottir
Photo: Eric Strain
Manuel Axel Strain
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Manuel Axel Strain is a 2-Spirit artist from the lands and waters of the xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam), Simpcw and Syilx peoples, based in the sacred homelands of their q̓ ic̓əy̓ (Katzie) and qʼʷa:n̓ ƛʼən̓ (Kwantlen) relatives.
Strain creates work in collaboration with, and in reference to family, where shared experiences become a source of agency. Strain’s work across multiple mediums incorporates content related to ancestral and community ties, Indigeneity, labour, resource extraction, gender, Indigenous medicine and life forces.
Strain’s work confronts and undermines the imposed realities of colonialism, proposing a new space beyond its oppressive systems of power.
Manuel Strain, qné7e says tá7a, 2021. Stolen white picket fence, artificial grass superimposed over deer hide (gifted by mother Tracey Strain and prepared by Molly Toodlican), photo of great grandmother laser etched into birch and acrylic, braided deer hide, pigeon feather. Dimensions variable. © Manuel Strain. Photo: SD Holman