Alumna Nadia Myre (’97) Receives Sobey

In November 2014, Nadia Myre (’97) was named the winner of the 2014 Sobey Art Award. A multi-disciplinary artist of Algonquin heritage, Nadia’s practice has been inspired by participant involvement as well as recurring themes of identity, language, longing and loss. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, notably Pratt & Whitney Canada’s ‘Les Elles de l’art’ for the Conseil des arts de Montréal (2011), Quebec Arts Council’s Prix à la création artistique pour la region des Laurentides (2009), and a prestigious Fellowship from the Eiteljorg Museum (2003).

“Myre has built a distinctive visual vocabulary by translating her experience and that of others into works that employ traditional crafts within a contemporary, multidisciplinary practice,” the prize jury said in a release. “Her artwork creates a symbolic image of wounding and resilience that conveys something deeply human while addressing urgent social concerns.”

The Sobey is an annual prize given to an artist of age 40 or under who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated. Since the inception of the Sobey Art Award in 2002, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia has organized and administered both the award and its accompanying exhibition. Every other year, the award is exhibited at a Canadian gallery or museum outside of Halifax.