Artist Prize Winners 2025

I am very pleased to announce this year’s Artist Prize winner and two finalists. You will be given a more detailed background on the winners and their art at the TFVA Prize Winners Tribute Event on April 28th.

The Artist Prize of $15,000 is awarded to one artist while each of two finalists receives prizes of $7,500. Every year the Artist Prize Committee identifies GTA based curators and asks them to suggest between one and three artists whom they would like to nominate for the prize. The Committee then visits up to 12 artists to see their work and get insight into their artistic practices and the artists themselves.

After visiting the artists, the Committee discusses and selects the finalists. The decisions made are multi-faceted. Three artists are chosen, whose body of work shows meritorious achievement and talent in the field of visual arts, with one chosen as the winner and two as the runners-up. The proposed winners are then presented to the Board for approval.

The committee is guided by, but not limited to, the following factors:

• The artist’s primary practice is or was based in the greater Toronto area.
• The artist has produced a body of work.
• The artist has an exhibition history in group or solo shows, one of which should have been in Toronto.
• The artist is between late emerging to early mid-career.
• Artistic merit rather than financial need is the guiding principle.
• The artist must not have won an Artist Prize before.

TFVA always requests that the recipients acknowledge the prize in their documentation and/or promotional material.

On behalf of the board of TFVA, we present:

Artist Prize Winner, Emmanuel Osahor

PHOTO TAKEN BY: Richelle Forsay

Emmanuel Osahor is a Nigerian Canadian artist currently based in Toronto, where he focuses on painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Born in Nigeria and raised in Alberta, his practice explores beauty as essential for survival and as a foundation for flourishing. His artwork portrays garden spaces as carefully constructed sanctuaries that embody both beauty and care. He aims to create these gardens as imagined safe havens that welcome marginalized communities, particularly people of colour like himself. By emphasizing beauty in his work, Emmanuel provides a nurturing environment for addressing the hopes and complexities of contemporary life.

His work, To Dream of Other Places, will be appearing in an exhibition at the Power Plant beginning April 11th. 
Artist website

Artist Prize Finalist, Ésery Mondésir

 
PHOTO TAKEN BY: Polina Teif akim

Ésery Mondésir is a Haitian-Canadian video artist and filmmaker whose work is rooted in community-based storytelling. Drawing on music, archives, poetry, and sound, he explores themes of personal and collective memory, offering perspectives from society’s margins. Ésery collaborates closely with members of the Haitian diaspora, engaging with communities in places like Cuba, Mexico, and Italy to create his films. He captures their experiences of immigration using a 16mm camera and manually processes each reel, transforming them into unique works of art. His innovative films combine evocative imagery, music, and poetic elements, immersing viewers in powerful narratives of migration and belonging.
A recent exhibition, Choublak, at Concordia University, has just closed..
Instagram photos & videos

Artist Prize Finalist, Shannon Garden-Smith 

PHOTO TAKEN BY: Vlad Lunin

Shannon Garden-Smith is a Toronto-based artist specializing in sculpture, installation, and an expanded photo practice. Her work explores how the materials that cover our modern built environment shape our lives. Using unconventional materials like sand and gelatin, Shannon employs a slow, repetitive process to reveal how the architecture we see every day becomes familiar through constant exposure. Her work encourages us to notice the often-overlooked labour that supports our daily lives and examines materials through themes of connection, change, and limited resources. Shannon’s unique approach is deeply influenced by intersectional feminist perspectives.
Her work can now be seen in a group exhibition at Onsite Gallery.
Artist website
Don’t miss out – ZOOM WINTER LECTURE SERIES!

This series, on ZOOM, looks wonderful with three outstanding speakers. They will be recorded so you can watch later at your convenience. 
Need more details? Go to our website, tfva.ca. If you’re not signed in as a member, put in your password and click on Event Calendar.

STATE OF THE ART: MUSEUMS  
Welcome to a potpourri of compelling museum musings to kick off the new year, delivered by a high-powered trio of academics and scholars.

DATES: Tuesday, February 18 – speaker is live
Tuesday, February 25 – recorded with live introduction
Tuesday, March 4 – speaker is live
TIME: 10AM – you may watch now or later at your convenience
PLACE: ZOOM
COST: $100 for the series
ORGANIZED BY: Susan Devins, devins@sympatico.ca 647-406-9614

REGISTER for SERIES

 
Prize Winners Tribute Event (formerly Tribute Night)

We are happy to be bringing back the celebration of all our prize winners. The Board has decided that, this year, we will have a morning celebration, followed by lunch.
DATE: Monday, April 28
TIME: 10:30AM
PLACE: Yorkminster Park Centre

Coming to events without Registering

We have had a number of instances of members showing up for events without registering. At lectures and films, this is not a problem as there is plenty of space. At other events there is often limited space and a waiting list. If a space becomes available, we give it to someone on the waiting list. Please ensure that you are registered for all events that you attend.

Hearing Aid Found!

A note from Karen Curtis following our Film last Tuesday:

Nametags

Please contact Jane Barber, Membership Chair, if you need a new name
badge. She will be putting in an order at the end of March.

TFVA History

I am sharing again, mainly for our newer members, a short and delightful video of our history which was made for our 20^th anniversary. Watch it here.

Rita 

Rita Daniel, President
President@tfva.ca