Curator Glenn Alteen and Photographer Sandra Semchuk Win GG Awards for Visual and Media Arts

Glenn Alteen "has insisted on establishing – in grunt gallery – an artist-run centre that is more about artists than objects.” says GG Award nominator, artist, curator and writer Lorna Brown. | Image courtesy of canadacouncil.ca

Vancouver curator Glenn Alteen and photographer Sandra Semchuk are among this year’s winners of the $25,000 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

Alteen, curator of grunt gallery, will receive the Outstanding Contribution Award for his “consistent, respectful and ethical inclusion of artists, curators and cultural workers from diverse backgrounds,” says curator Lorna Brown. 

Sandra Semchuk. | canadacouncil.ca

Semchuk's “take on photography as collaborative project is a vital contribution to the medium," says curator Andrea Cunard, adding that "Semcuhuk asks the viewer to enter that process of self-examination with her.” 

Other winners include visual artists Bruce Eves and Spring Hurlbut, and media artist Midi Onodera from Toronto; London, Ont., media artist Wyn Geleynse; Regina, Sask., ceramic artist Jack Sures  and Alberta Siksika Nation visual and performance artist Adrian Stimson.

Gov. Gen. Julie Payette will host an awards ceremony on March 28 at Rideau Hall, in Ottawa..

An exhibition of the winners’ works will open at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa on March 29 and run through Aug. 5, 2018. The Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts are administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Watch the video "Glenn Alteen on giving voice to unapologetic, outsider artists," by Josephine Anderson here. 

And here's a video about Sandra Semchuk by Anthony Grieco.