Ottawa, October 12, 2006 The Canada Council for the Arts announced today that photographer Karen Ostrom, a native of Sidney, BC, is the winner of the Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography for 2006.
The Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography was established by the Canadian government in 1986 through an endowment to the Canada Council of $170,000 for an annual prize in photography. The prize is given to the best professional artists in photography in the competition for a Canada Council project grant. The $8,000 prize is awarded in addition to the recipient's grant.
Karen Ostrom was selected by a peer assessment committee made up of: Anne-Marie Bénéteau (Toronto); Michael Fernandes (East Dover, NS); Bettina Hoffmann (Montreal); John Powell (Comox, BC); and Jennifer Stead (Banff).
Karen Ostrom
Karen Ostrom grew up in Sidney, BC. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she is working on her latest photographic installation. Using photography to disrupt our expectations about space, Ms. Ostrom carefully constructs cycloramic murals for site-specific locations. Her current project incorporates sound bites and lighting as interactive components.
Ms. Ostrom's interest in photography came late in her undergraduate studies at the University of Victoria. There, she was inspired by the eccentric narratives of the late artist/photographer Fred Douglas, whom she considers a "kindred spirit". She went on to complete her Master of Fine Arts at Hunter College in New York City with performance-based photographic tableaux that are still at the core of her work.
Ms. Ostrom has been a MacDowell Colony Fellow as well as an artist in residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, selected by artist Vik Muniz. She has been awarded Canada Council for the Arts grants, a Barbara Deming Memorial Fund Grant, an AIM fellowship from the Bronx Museum, and a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her work has been exhibited at institutions, galleries and site-specific locations throughout Canada and the United States.
General information
The Canada Council for the Arts, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2007, is a national arm's-length agency created by an Act of Parliament in 1957. In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts in Canada, the Canada Council administers and awards prizes and fellowships to over 100 artists and scholars annually in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, and engineering. Among these are the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, the Governor General's Literary Awards, the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, the York Wilson Endowment Award and the Prix de Rome in Architecture.
For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Janet Riedel Pigott, Acting Director of Endowments and Prizes, at 613-566-4414 or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 5041; e-mail: janet.riedel@canadacouncil.ca; or Danielle Sarault, Acting Endowments and Prizes Officer, at 613-566-4414 or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 4116; e-mail: danielle.sarault@canadacouncil.ca.
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