On April 16, 2025, the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) and Sobey Art Foundation announced the longlist of 30 visual artists for the 2025 Sobey Art Award, which this year included four Inuit artists: Darcie Bernhardt, Tarralik Duffy, Shirley Moorhouse and Mathew Nuqingaq, CM. All four were nominated in the Circumpolar category, which was added last year, alongside Tlingit artist Megan Jensen.
Created in 2002 and presented annually, the Sobey Art Award is the biggest art award in Canada and celebrates visual artists from six regions: Circumpolar, Pacific, Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic. “This year’s selection… is a testament to the compelling breadth and calibre of contemporary artmaking in this country,” said Jonathan Shaughnessy, Director of Curatorial Initiatives at the NGC and Chair of the 2025 Sobey Award Jury.
Bernhardt is an Inuvialuk painter, multimedia artist and curator originally from Tuktuuyaqtuuq, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, and currently based in Halifax, NS. They often depict domestic spaces, memories and contemporary life in northern communities in their work. Bernhardt’s first solo exhibition was Ouiyaghasiak (2019) at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax, which featured intimate scenes from their childhood. In 2024, their work was featured on the cover of the winter issue of the Inuit Art Quarterly.
Originally from Salliq (Coral Harbour), NU, Duffy is a writer, multidisciplinary artist and designer whose work focuses on contemporary Inuit culture and her experience living in both her arctic island home and city life in the South. She incorporates drawing, photography, sculpture, textile, printmaking and digital mediums in her practice. In 2021, Duffy won the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award, and in 2024 her work was commissioned for two solo shows: Let’s Go Quickstop at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, ON, and Gasoline Rainbows at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq.
Heritage crafts artisan, fabric artist, printmaker and painter Moorhouse was born and currently resides in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Nunatsiavut, NL. Known for her wall hangings, she incorporates a plethora of materials—including beading, embroidery, fur and many more–to examine themes of Inuit identity, the importance of cultural continuity and ties of women and family, materiality and environment. Moorhouse’s work has been featured in many group exhibitions, including SakKijâjuk: Art and Craft from Nunatsiavut (2018) at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, SK, and INUA (2021) at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq.
Nuqingaq is an Iqaluit-based artist and previous IAF Board Member whose primary practice is jewellery design. His designs feature Inuit tools, arctic animals and draw on popular figures from Inuit stories. Nuqingaq founded Aayuraa Studio in Iqaluit in 2007, where he works alongside established and emerging artists. He has exhibited his work in several exhibitions, including Our Land: Contemporary Art from the Arctic (2016–2017) at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Floe Edge: Contemporary Art and Collaborations from Nunavut (2016). Also in 2016, he was appointed a member of the Order of Canada.
Several Inuit artists have won and been nominated for this prestigious award in the past: in 2006, Annie Pootoogook (1969–2016) was the first Inuk artist to win the award, followed by Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory in 2021 and Kablusiak, the first Inuvialuk artist to win, in 2023. In 2020, the award was split evenly among the shortlisted artists, and asinnajaq was one of the recipients. Past longlisted and shortlisted artists include Taqralik Partridge, Eldred Allen, Jason Sikoak, Jessica Winters, Maureen Gruben, Glenn Gear, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Mark Igloliorte and Couzyn van Heuvelen.
The six shortlisted artists will be announced on June 3, and their work will also be featured in an exhibition at the NGC from October 3, 2025 to February 8, 2026. A total of $465,000 in prize money will be awarded: $100,000 will be given to the winner, $25,000 will be given to the six shortlisted artists and $10,000 to the remaining longlisted artists. The winner will be announced on November 8 during a celebration at the NGC.