The five shortlisted artists for the 2023 Sobey Art Award, Canada’s preeminent prize for contemporary visual artists, were announced by the National Gallery of Canada and the Sobey Art Foundation this past June.

The 2023 Sobey Art Award Exhibition is now on view at the National Gallery of Canada, with Mohkinstsis/Calgary, AB-based Inuvialuk artist and curator KABLUSIAK among the five finalists included in the exhibition. These works will be on view at the NGC from October 13, 2023 until March 3, 2024. The winner will be announced on November 18, 2023 in Ottawa at the National Gallery of Canada.

KABLUSIAK (Prairies and the North), a multidisciplinary Inuvialuk artist and curator who uses Inuk ingenuity to create work in a variety of mediums, including lingerie, white flour, soapstone, felt, acrylic paint, and words. The artist’s work explores dis/connections and family and community ties within the Inuit diaspora, as well as the impact of colonization on Inuit expressions of gender and sexuality, on health and wellbeing, and on daily life. Kablusiak was born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, and they are currently based in Calgary, Alberta.