Jin-me Yoon, Peter Pierobon, and Daina Augaitis amid Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts winners
Honourees from across the country, including Bruce LaBruce and Kent Monkman, take home $25,000 and a bronze medallion
Peter Pierobon working in his studio.
Jin-me Yoon’s Souvenirs of the Self (Lake Louise), 1991/2019 (detail), inkjet print on laminated vinyl.
A MAJOR VANCOUVER visual artist, a prominent B.C. furniture designer, and a well-known local curator are amid the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts winners just announced by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Vancouver visual artist Jin-me Yoon, the subject of a massive retrospective at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2022 and known for her videos, installations, and photo work, was recognized with an Artistic Achievement Award. She was praised for her work’s relevance “to shifting discourses around such questions as nationalism, diasporic identity, colonization and relations with Indigenous peoples.” Her major works include 1991’s Souvenirs of the Self, a photo series challenging stereotypes of Canadian identity; and 1996’s A Group of Sixty-Seven—67 portraits of Vancouver's Korean Canadian community standing in front of paintings by Canadian art icons Lawren S. Harris and Emily Carr. “While many institutions are only now waking up to the importance of embedding equity, diversity and inclusion across all of their activities, Yoon has been steadily addressing such issues through her work and ways of working during the past thirty years,” the peer assessment statement continues.
Elsewhere, Salt Spring Island–based furniture designer and woodworking master Peter Pierobon has been named for the Saidye Bronfman Award, which honours the exceptional work of artists who have made significant contributions to the development of the fine crafts in Canada. It is the highest honour for craft in the country. “His body of work stands as a testament to the transformative power of craftsmanship, transcending the confines of utility to evoke a profound sense of beauty, purpose, and narrative resonance,” the peer assessment reads. Born and raised in North Vancouver, Pierobon was educated in Rochester, New York, with contemporary studio furniture designer Wendell Castle. He has exhibited and taught internationally for almost 40 years, and his serene and sculptural contemporary pieces sit in the permanent collections of prominent sites like Washington’s Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.
Daina Augaitis. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography
And curator Daina Augaitis, longtime former Vancouver Art Gallery chief curator and associate director, and now chief curator emerita, was recognized with the Outstanding Contribution Award. “Her commitment to artists, to new art forms and approaches to exhibition making, mentorship, publishing, and institutional practices have made a significant impact on the cultural ecology of Canada and paved new ways in which individuals and institutions approach diverse practices curatorially, intellectually and ethically,” the peer announcement reads. Augaitis holds a degree from Emily Carr College of Art + Design, and pursued further degrees at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the University of Waterloo. In the early 1980s, she made her mark at the Western Front, then moved to the Banff Centre for the Arts from 1986 to 1995, activating the Walter Phillips Gallery's publishing program there. At the VAG, Augaitis brought forward important exhibitions by the likes of Rebecca Belmore, Stan Douglas, Charles Edenshaw, Brian Jungen, Paul Wong, and Ian Wallace. Her award recognizes an exceptional contribution to visual arts, media arts, or fine crafts in a volunteer or professional capacity.
Other winners from across the country for the Artistic Achievement Award include New Brunswick artist Thaddeus Hołownia; filmmaker, writer, artist, and photographer Bruce LaBruce; Toronto Swampy Cree, English, and Irish artist Kent Monkman; Kingston artist and critic Clive Robertson; and Montreal multidisciplinary artist Sandra Rodriguez.
You can watch video portraits of each of the artists at the Canada Council site here.
Each of the winners, chosen by peer assessment committees, will receive a $25,000 prize and a bronze medallion. 
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