B.C. visual artist Samuel Roy-Bois named finalist for national Sobey Art Award

UBC Okanagan associate professor has a celebrated multidisciplinary practice that works across sculpture, installation, photography, and the built environment

Samuel Roy-Bois; Roy-Bois’s *Commercial Street*, 2025, wood, paint, object. © Samuel Roy-Bois. Photo by Nanaimo Art Gallery

WELL-KNOWN B.C. VISUAL ARTIST Samuel Roy-Bois has just been shortlisted amid six names for the 2026 Sobey Art Award.

Representing the award’s Pacific region. Roy-Bois is a UBC Okanagan associate professor whose multidisciplinary practice explores sculpture, installation, photography, and the built environment. His work is held in major Canadian collections, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Audain Gallery, and the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art. He won the Vancouver Mayor’s Award in 2012 and VIVA Award in 2021.

The National Gallery of Canada and the Sobey Art Foundation today revealed the finalists for the major Canadian contemporary visual-arts prize.

Elsewhere, Yellowknife-based Dene/Dënesułińe multidisciplinary artist Melaw Nakehk’o was nominated for the Circumpolar region; Regina-based Métis and Cree artist Audie Murray was named for the Prairies region; sculptor, photographer, and installation artist Lotus L. Kang was named for Ontario; Montreal multidisciplinary artist Caroline Monnet was nominated for the Quebec Region; and New Brunswick–based, Wolastokew mixed-media artist Shane Perley-Dutcher was put forward for the Atlantic region.

A total of $465,000 in prize money comes with the awards, including the $100,000 grand prize. Each of the shortlisted artists receives $25,000 and each of the remaining longlisted artists receives $10,000. The winner of the award will be announced at a celebration on November 14, with an exhibition featuring works by the six shortlisted artists at the National Gallery from September 4 to January 4, 2027.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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B.C. visual artist Samuel Roy-Bois named finalist for national Sobey Art Award

UBC Okanagan associate professor has a celebrated multidisciplinary practice that works across sculpture, installation, photography, and the built environment

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