Tania Willard is the winner of the 2025 Sobey Art Award (Image credit: Dave Chan/National Gallery of Canada).

By Aaron Schulze

Sobey Art Award

Neskonlith woman wins $100,000 award for contemporary visual arts career

Nov 11, 2025 | 8:00 AM

KAMLOOPS — A Secwepemc woman who lives in Neskonlith is taking home $100,000 after winning a contemporary visual arts prize.

Tania Willard is the latest recipient of the 2025 Sobey Art Award, which she was awarded during a celebration held at the National Gallery of Canada. Willard was named the grand prize winner by an independent jury, who reviewed all nominations and established the long and short lists, as well as the winner, based on the artists’ respective careers to date.

The National Gallery of Canada credits Willard for weaving intergenerational knowledges of Secwépemc aunties in vibrant homage to their skill and innovation, past and present.

“It is an incredible feeling to be acknowledged alongside all the long- and shortlisted artists for this award,” Willard said. “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 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.”

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In a news release, Jonathan Shaughnessy, the National Gallery of Canada’s director of curatorial initiatives and jury chair, said Willard’s practice challenges the viewer to expand their understanding of contemporary art and the artist’s role.

“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,” Shaughnessy said.

The Sobey Art Award was founded in 2002 as privately funded prizes for Canadian contemporary visual artists. It has been jointly administered by the National Gallery of Canada and the Sobery Art Foundation since 2016.