Celebrated names in Vancouver visual-art scene make it to 2026 Sobey Art Award long list
Charles Campbell, Emily Hermant, Kelly Lycan, Samuel Roy-Bois, and Manuel Axel Strain nominated in Pacific region category of prestigious national prize
(Left to right) Samuel Roy-Bois’s Commercial St. (2025, © Samuel Roy-Bois; photo by Nanaimo Art Gallery), Charles Campbell’s An Ocean to Livity (installation view, Surrey Art Gallery, 2023, © Charles Campbell, photo by Dennis Ha), and Emily Hermant’s Talk Through Me (2024, © Emily Hermant, photo courtesy Monte Clark Gallery).
FIVE B.C. VISUAL ARTISTS, all well-known names in the Vancouver gallery scene, have made it to the long list for the 2026 Sobey Art Award.
The National Gallery of Canada and the Sobey Art Foundation have just revealed the 30 Canadian contemporary visual artists long-listed for Canada’s most established contemporary visual-arts prize—one that awards a total of $465,000 to talents at “a critical juncture in their careers”.
The jury chooses five artists in each of six regions in Canada; you can find the full list of 30 long-listed talents here.
Among the Pacific region nominees is Charles Campbell, a Jamaican-born multidisciplinary artist, writer, and curator who’s based in Victoria and has had his work exhibited in the Lower Mainland at venues including the Vancouver Art Gallery and Surrey Art Gallery. He works in sculpture, sound, installation, and performance, drawing fluidly on the communal and spiritual as he explores what it means to live in the wake of slavery and colonization.
Campbell’s work has been exhibited widely in the Caribbean, Canada, and internationally. He is the recipient of numerous awards, and holds an MFA from Goldsmiths College in London, and a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal. He’s joined by Emily Hermant, an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the materiality of communication. With an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Hermant has participated in more than 50 exhibitions, including 20 solo exhibitions. The Emily Carr University of Art + Design associate professor has had residencies at venues including BoxoPROJECTS in California and Vancouver’s Burrard Arts Foundation.
(Left to right) Manuel Axel Strain’s xʷəlməxʷ child (installation view at The Polygon Gallery, © Manuel Axel Strain, Akeem Nero photo, courtesy of The Polygon Gallery) and Kelly Lycan’s The Wallpaper (2024, installation view, Burnaby Art Gallery, © Kelly Lycan, Blaine Campbell photo, courtesy of the Burnaby Art Gallery).
Kelly Lycan also made the list. The Vancouver photo-based installation artist explores ideas of perception, value, and reproduction, examining how objects and images are displayed. With an MFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, she has had her work exhibited across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East; recent shows have included the site-specific The Fireplace, exploring the Edwardian rooms at the Burnaby Art Gallery.
Elsewhere, Samuel Roy-Bois, known for built environments, installations, sculpture, and photographs, is being recognized. His work sits in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, and he’s shown everywhere from the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal to Whistler’s Audain Art Museum. He’s an associate professor in sculpture at UBC Okanagan.
And xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam), Simpcw, and Syilx artist Manual Axel Strain joins the list for their work in installations, photographic art, and other disciplines. The artist, whose pieces have been shown at venues such as the Vancouver Art Gallery, The Polygon Gallery, and Surrey Art Gallery, attended Emily Carr University of Art + Design and prioritizes Indigenous epistemologies. They were long-listed for the 2022 Sobey Award and were a recipient of the 2022 Portfolio Prize. They work as co-artistic director at the Vines Art Society.
A short list of six artists will be announced on May 26, and their work will be featured in an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada starting in September. The overall winner will be announced on November 14, during an evening celebration at the gallery. That artist will receive $100,000; each of the short-listed artists will receive $25,000; and the remaining long-listed artists will each receive $10,000—all funded by the Sobey Art Foundation. 
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