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Carol Sawyer Nominated for 2021 Scotiabank Photo Award

Sawyer NB 22
Carol Sawyer, 'Last Known Photograph of Natalie Brettschneider,' 2009.
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By Perrin Grauer

Posted on March 15, 2021

The interdisciplinary artist and singer is among nearly a dozen Canadian peers selected by a distinguished committee.

Carol Sawyer (BFA 1992) is among the 11 artists longlisted for the prestigious 2021 Scotiabank Photography Award.

Carol is nominated along with artists from across the country, including Vikky Alexander, Jeff Bierk, Deanna Bowen, Sara Cwynar, Will Gill, Annie MacDonell, Dawit L. Petros, Ned Pratt, Greg Staats and Jeff Thomas.

“I am very happy to be included in the group of talented and dedicated artists being considered for this year’s Scotiabank Photography Award,” Carol says. “The list of past winners and nominees encompasses a diverse and impressive range of artistic practices and concerns. It is a real honour to be nominated.”

Carol, an interdisciplinary artist and singer, works in photography, installation, video, and improvised music. She graduated from ECU with honours in photography, and completed her MFA at Simon Fraser University. She has taught numerous courses as a sessional instructor at Emily Carr University, and notes she “really values being able to continue to be part of the ECU community.” In 2017, Carol was awarded the Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography by the Canada Council for the Arts.

For the better part of three decades, Carol’s practice has explored the “connections between photography and fiction, performance, memory, and history,” according to her artist bio. The book Carol Sawyer: The Natalie Brettschneider Archive, was published last year in conjunction with a series of exhibitions held at the Carleton University Art Gallery, the Vancouver Art Gallery, The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and the Koffler Art Gallery in Toronto.



The Scotiabank Photography Award recognizes the achievements of established mid-to-late career artists working in lens-based media. The award was co-founded in 2010 by renowned artist Edward Burtynsky, who remains Chair of the Scotiabank Photography Award jury.

The shortlist of finalists, as well as the eventual winner of the award, will be chosen by Edward along with fellow jurors Sophie Hackett, curator of photography at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Kenneth Montague, art collector and curator, and Brian Sholis, editor, curator and writer. Longlist nominees were put forward by an esteemed group of Canadian arts community members.

“I am incredibly grateful to the Awards Nominators for their time and consideration as we compile the 2021 longlist of Scotiabank Photography Award candidates,” Edward says in a statement. “I'm equally excited and proud to see the perseverance and talent of our Canadian photographic artists, as they continue to create and put the kind of art we all need out into the world during these trying times. Congratulations to all.”

The winner of the 2021 Scotiabank Photo Award will receive a $50,000 prize. In addition, they will receive a solo exhibition during the 2022 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, and will have a book of their work published and distributed worldwide by Steidl. Each shortlisted finalist will receive $10,000. Shortlisted artists will be announced March 31, with the winner to be announced later in the spring.

You can see more of Carol’s work now on her website, http://www.carolsawyer.net/.