Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk, one of the 2026 Governor General’s Awards recipients, pictured during a June 2025 masterclass. The Beaverbrook exhibition in Fredericton opened November 7, 2026.
Photo credit: Mayimbú
An exhibition bringing together the work of eight recipients of the 2026 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts opens at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton on Saturday, November 7. Running until April 11, 2027, the exhibition draws from careers spanning sculpture, Inuit filmmaking, digital art, textiles and experimental photography. It is presented and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts in collaboration with the National Gallery of Canada and Beaverbrook Art Gallery.
Alberta artist Faye HeavyShield, a member of the Kainai First Nation, is among the six recipients recognized for artistic achievement. Her sculptures and installations often use beads, paper, photographs and other modest materials, with Blackfoot knowledge and her personal and family histories informing the work. A 2002 installation, Aapaskaiyaawa (They are Dancing), uses painted canvas, beads and plastic filament; other projects have arranged repeated forms across gallery spaces.
Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk has spent much of his career making films in his home community of Igloolik, Nunavut. A co-founder of Isuma, Kunuk directed the Inuktitut-language feature Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, released in 2001. He also directed Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband), a 2025 feature.
Montréal-based Kanien’kehá artist Skawennati approaches storytelling through computer-generated characters, virtual worlds and machinima, a form of filmmaking using digital environments. Her TimeTraveller™ project places Indigenous characters within imagined histories and futures. Her work extends into sculpture and fashion, and she is also a co-founder of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace, which develops Indigenous participation in digital media.
Vancouver artist Carole Itter works with found and repurposed objects in installations, films and performances, bringing environmental concerns and feminist perspectives into her work. In Quebec, Lyne Lapointe combines painting and installation with an interest in the body, social conventions and exclusion. Her earlier collaborations with Martha Fleming involved transforming abandoned buildings into sites for art.
Gatineau photographer Marie-Jeanne Musiol uses experimental photographic techniques to record electromagnetic phenomena associated with plants. The images include luminous, branching forms that are difficult to see without specialized processes. Ontario textile artist Chung-Im Kim, meanwhile, builds wall-based forms from industrial felt, combining printed surfaces with hand-stitching and techniques informed by Korean textile traditions. Kim received the Saidye Bronfman Award for Fine Craft.
The eighth recipient, Vancouver art historian Roger Lee, received the Outstanding Contribution Award for his work as an educator, collector and advocate for Asian Canadian art and artists. The remaining six recipients received Artistic Achievement Awards. The Canada Council announced all eight winners on September 16, several weeks before the opening of the exhibition.
The awards also include short film portraits commissioned through a Canada Council initiative with the Independent Media Arts Alliance. Two were made by Edmonton filmmakers: Christopher White directed HeavyShield’s portrait, while Conor McNally of Illiop Productions made the film about Kunuk. Portraits of the other six recipients were created by filmmakers from across Canada and are available on the official Governor General’s Awards website.
For opening day, the Beaverbrook scheduled an 11 a.m. discussion with Skawennati, Musiol, Lee and Kim in its RBC Learning Centre. Lee was also scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. about Chinese Yixing teapots from his collection. Both talks were listed as free to attend; the exhibition itself continues at the gallery through April 11.
