2025 Finalists
The 2025 Yukon Prize Finalists were selected by an independent jury of three arts professionals: Jean-François Bélisle, Director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada, Sarah Moore Fillmore, CEO of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Dr. Heather Igloliorte, Professor, Visual Arts Department, University of Victoria, Inuk-Newfoundlander, Nunatsiavut.
We are grateful for the time and care they devoted to the jurying process. We would like to thank all of the talented Yukon artists who applied for the 2025 Yukon Prize. Your art enriches our lives.
Jeneen Frei Njootli
Jane Isakson
Meshell Melvin
Randi Nelson
Aubyn O’Grady
Jackie Olson
Slide Show of 2021 Yukon Prize Finalists Exhibition
2025 Jurors
Four outstanding Canadian arts professionals served as jurors for this competition.
Jean-François Bélisle was appointed CEO of Canada’s largest public gallery in 2023. He was previously the executive director and chief curator of the Musée d’art de Joliette, the cofounder and executive director of Arsenal contemporary art with venues in Montreal, Toronto and New York, and executive director of the Association des galeries d’art contemporain (AGAC). He has also held positions in museums, art publications, international NGOs, auction houses, galleries and universities in eight countries.
Sarah Fillmore was appointed CEO of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) in 2023.
As chair of the jury for the Sobey Art Award, and curator of the annual Sobey Art Award show from 2002-2015, she supported emerging Canadian artists and leading curators. Sarah also led major initiatives in art museums and private galleries in New York and Boston while working with artists from across Canada, the United States, and beyond.
Dr. Heather lgloliorte was appointed a Canada Excellence Research Chair in 2024. She is an internationally-renowned curator and art historian whose work centres circumpolar Inuit and other Indigenous arts and knowledges within global art contexts.
Her research foregrounds Indigenous perspectives and creativity, with a particular emphasis on mentoring Indigenous youth from remote and northern communities.
Jonathan Shaughnessy is a Canadian curator specializing in contemporary art and currently serves as Director, Curatorial Initiatives at the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), a role he assumed in 2022. Since, he has been the Jury Chair for the Sobey Art Award and is co-curator for the 2025 exhibition of the Award at the NGC. He also holds the position of Adjunct Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa.
[Juror from Oct. 1, 2025]
2025 Yukon Prize Exhibition Catalogues available for purchase
The 2025 Yukon Prize Finalist Exhibition Catalogue is now available for purchase for $20 at Yukon Artists @ Work and Arts Underground in Whitehorse. This beautifully produced publication includes an essay by Haley Ritchie, in-depth features on the six Yukon Prize finalists—Aubyn O’Grady, Jackie Olson, Jane Isakson, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Meshell Melvin, and Randi Nelson—and selected artworks by the longlisted artists Helen O’Connor, Jeffrey Langille, Joyce Majiski, Matthew Lien, Guná Jensen, Michel Gignac, and Omar Reyna.
The catalogue was designed by Mary Binsted Designs, printed in Whitehorse, and features photography by Brian Pelchat, Bruce Barrett, and Mike Thomas. It is a lasting keepsake of the 2025 Yukon Prize, celebrating the depth, diversity, and vitality of contemporary Yukon art.
If you live outside Whitehorse and would like to purchase a copy, please contact info@yukonprize.ca
