Vancouver-based artist Russna Kaur has won the fourth annual $10,000 Tanabe Prize for British Columbia emerging painters.

Kaur, who was born in Brampton, Ont., received her MFA last year from the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and is now working there as a sessional instructor.

Her large paintings explore alternative ways of acknowledging her identity and heritage. They are an investigation, a celebration and an empowering tool for self-expression through colour and texture.

The Tanabe Prize, administered by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, is selected by contemporary art curators connected to B.C. art galleries.

Selection is based on exceptional creativity and the promise of future achievements. Selectors' names are kept confidential. There's no application process for curators or artists.

Tanabe, a Vancouver Island painter, was born in Prince Rupert, B.C.