Michel Gignac 2025 Longlist

Artist Bio

Michel Gignac is a Yukon-based, Fransaskois sculptor residing on the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. Since graduating with distinction from the Alberta University of Art and Design, he has exhibited nationally and internationally.

Trailing, an interactive installation created alongside Arab/Canadian artist Alia Shahab, showcased at Contemporary Calgary’s inaugural exhibition, Planetary. It is now a solo exhibition at the Anchorage Museum, until January 2025. Michel’s work Neighbourly/Le voisinage is currently on exhibition at the centre culturel franco-Manitobain in Winnipeg, and will tour to the Centre d’art visuel de l’Alberta in Edmonton for a solo show.

Plastic Island, created with the Night Multimedia Art Collective, was featured at New York City’s 2014 Figment Festival. He partnered with French artist Gorellaume to produce Through the Thought Process and Shared Effort, large-scale, three-dimensional murals for Whitehorse’s Co-Space and Yukon University. When not creating art, Michel develops workshops to foster creativity in youth and adults.

Artist Statement

I am a sculptor and installation artist, creating immersive, interactive works that invite curiosity and inspire wonder. My practice spans a variety of mediums—ranging from scavenged materials like toilet paper rolls to blown glass, and coded electronics—and often extends beyond gallery spaces into public art, snow carvings, and set design for theatre and film. Whether in large-scale installations or intimate, playful experiences, I seek to engage viewers in a dialogue about community, and humanity’s complex relationship with technology and nature. Some of my works are created in collaboration with other artists, allowing me to break out of routines and  discover new perspectives.

I sometimes create with new materials, but my preference is to use discarded things. I find that the worn, weathered, rusted, or unstitched bits have more character and like our own scars offer a brief glimpse into an object’s unique history. Working with these materials means much of my process involves collecting – seeking out obsolete electronics in the landfill, scrap wood in construction bins, or discarded Christmas trees on curbsides. Outside the urban landscape, I similarly hunt for organic materials in forested spaces, like a segment of deadfall, pine needles or propeller-shaped maple keys.

I sometimes work with other artists to change perspectives, share knowledge and create larger, more physically demanding work. Collaboration has led to the creation of projects like Trailing, Through the Thought Process, Shared Effort, and many snow carvings. I enjoy the collaborative process, as it develops a sense of camaraderie and results in a melding of backgrounds and experiences.

Interactivity is central to my work, creating a visceral connection between the viewer and the piece. In Going Somewhere./?, ladders invite viewers to physically engage, while in Neighbourly, the viewers’ position between windows places them at the heart of the performance, making them active participants in the narrative. I believe interactivity makes art more approachable and as such more inviting.

If selected for the Yukon Art Prize short-listed exhibition, I would unveil a new series of interactive sculptures that I have been developing since my residency at the Arctic Circle Retreat this fall. This series of large-scale sculptures explore the interplay between childhood and adult experiences through the lens of toys. Toys take many forms in different societies, but also share commonality through their overarching importance in childhood development. Toys touch on imagination, creativity, learning, social interaction (like sharing), emotional expression and cultural reflection. The more I explore this theme, the more I am fascinated at these objects that are all around us, yet hardly ever become a topic of conversation.

I am an observer, the themes of community and the relationship between humanity, technology, and nature that run throughout my work are snippets of observations I have made in my daily life. Through my installations and sculptures I aim to encourage dialogue, reflection, playfulness and a deeper connection to the world around us.