Renowned sculptor Brian Jungen, best known for his groundbreaking work transforming Nike Air Jordan sneakers into Northwest Coast First Nations masks, has been awarded the 2025 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts. The artist received the prestigious C$100,000 ($71,700) award, one of Canada's highest honors in the arts, during a ceremony held at the historic Pacific Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver on Friday, September 26.
The award ceremony presented a unique blend of colonial and decolonial elements that reflected the complex cultural dynamics Jungen explores in his artwork. While a bagpiper played "Jerusalem" to usher in British Columbia's Lieutenant Governor Wendy Cocchia, and guests dined on Pacific salmon beneath ornate chandeliers, a Native elder also performed a traditional Coast Salish welcome ceremony, highlighting the intersection of Indigenous and settler cultures.
Jungen, who is of mixed Dane-Zaa First Nations and Swiss ancestry, has built his reputation creating innovative sculptural works that combine Nike sneakers, sports uniforms, plastic furniture, containers, and other mass-produced objects. His multidisciplinary practice often evokes powerful connections to traditional Indigenous artistry, including masks, drums, and animal forms, while challenging viewers to examine the complexities of cultural appropriation and identity in today's globalized world. His previous accolades include winning the inaugural Sobey Art Award in 2002 and the 2010 Gershon Iskowitz Prize.
Established in 2004 by Michael Audain, the Audain Prize is presented annually by the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, British Columbia, with the goal of elevating artists from the province. An independent committee selects the winner each year. The packed ballroom celebration included many past winners, such as Chief James Hart, Ian Wallace (one of Jungen's former teachers), and Stan Douglas. When jury member and Polygon Gallery director Reid Shier presented the award, he praised Jungen's work as "imaginative, unpredictable and hauntingly evocative," and the two embraced warmly. In his acceptance speech, Jungen presented Michael Audain with a pair of beaded moosehide moccasins handcrafted by his cousin.
"It is an honor to recognize Brian Jungen with the 2025 Audain Prize," said Audain, who serves as chairman of the Audain Foundation. "The impact of his art is undeniable. Since the late 1990s, Jungen has forged a name for himself internationally through his commanding sculptural practice. It is critical that we not only acknowledge the caliber of such accomplished artists but also continue to raise their profile here in British Columbia, in Canada and around the world."
During the ceremony, Jungen acknowledged his deep connections to the local art community. In an accompanying documentary short film, he recalled arriving in Vancouver as an 18-year-old from northern British Columbia in 1988, where he was introduced to new concepts like conceptual art at the Emily Carr School of Art and Design. The now 55-year-old artist remembered having a studio in Vancouver's downtown east side and supporting his artistic practice by working at Canada Post. While his early work focused on drawing and painting, he noted, "I didn't really start making objects until I did a residency at the Banff Centre at 28."
The turning point in Jungen's career came from an unexpected source of inspiration: broken objects he encountered on Vancouver's streets. "I made these Nike masks, which I'm kind of tied up with for the rest of my life," he reflected. This observation led to his breakthrough series "Prototypes for New Understanding" (1998-2005), which launched his international career. One piece from this series, "Variant 1" (2002), is part of the Audain Art Museum's permanent collection and will be featured next month in the exhibition "From Sea to Sky: The Art of British Columbia." "It was a huge turning point for me," Jungen said. "I was suddenly being flown around the world and getting museum shows."
Following his initial success, Jungen purchased a ranch in British Columbia's rural Okanagan Valley, where he lived and maintained a studio for nine years. During this period, he created his first large-scale public work for the Art Gallery of Ontario: "Couch Monster: Sadzěʔ yaaghęhchill" (2022). This giant bronze sculpture was cast from second-hand leather furniture formed into the figure of a performing elephant. Inspired by an escaped circus elephant that he felt represented "cultural slavery," Jungen drew parallels to the commercial art world, noting how "if something doesn't sell, it just gets thrown into storage."
Four years ago, Jungen faced a devastating setback when his ranch and entire archive were destroyed in a wildfire. His collection, stored in approximately 900 Air Jordan boxes, was completely lost. Fortunately, much of his early work had been collected by Bob Rennie, who later donated it to the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, preserving this important body of work for future generations.
"It was a time to renew," Jungen told The Art Newspaper about losing his ranch and archive. He currently lives in a cabin at Moberly Lake in Northern British Columbia and operates without a traditional studio, but says this has led him to focus more on public art projects that don't require a fixed workspace. His recent work has taken a new direction: "I've also started making arrows in wood and carbon fiber fletched with feathers," he explains. "Because I practice archery now where I live up north, I've been firing the arrows into different objects and made a piece for Prospect New Orleans and did a performance with the arrows in February in New York."
This new artistic direction was inspired by his 2009 visit to the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and its extensive arrow collection. As Jungen looks toward the future, he expresses a desire to return to more hands-on creation: "I want to get back to making things with my own hands." His receipt of the Audain Prize not only recognizes his significant contributions to contemporary art but also supports his continued exploration of the complex relationships between Indigenous traditions, mass consumer culture, and artistic expression in the modern world.
