Vibrant oil painting by Chukwudubem Ukaigwe featuring layered figures, objects, and text in a dense, surreal composition; Darn that Dream, 2022.
Chukwudubem Ukaigwe, Darn that Dream, 2022. Oil on canvas, 54” × 60”. Acquired with funds from the Eldon Hagglund Endowment Fund. Collection of the School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba.
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Awards

School of Art alum shortlisted for 2025 Sobey Art Award

Chukwudubem Ukaigwe (BFA Hon. ’22) named a finalist for the 2025 Sobey Art Award, one of Canada’s most prestigious prize for contemporary visual art.

Estimated Read Time:
1 minute
Chukwudubem Ukaigwe, Darn that Dream, 2022. Oil on canvas, 54” × 60”. Acquired with funds from the Eldon Hagglund Endowment Fund. Collection of the School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba.

The School of Art at the University of Manitoba is proud to share that alumnus Chukwudubem Ukaigwe (BFA Hon. ’22) has been named a finalist for the 2025 Sobey Art Award, one of Canada’s most prestigious prize for contemporary visual art.

Representing the Prairies region, Ukaigwe joins a distinguished shortlist of six artists selected from across the country, each chosen for their exceptional contributions to the visual arts in Canada. This year’s shortlist, announced on June 3, 2025, by the National Gallery of Canada and the Sobey Art Foundation, highlights the diversity and strength of Canadian artistic practice today.

Born in Nigeria and currently based in Winnipeg, Ukaigwe is an artist, curator, and writer whose interdisciplinary practice spans painting, installation, video, and performance. His work explores semiotic dissonance, shared authorship, and fractured time, drawing on influences such as experimental music, speculative fiction, and diasporic histories. Through immersive audiovisual environments, he challenges traditional subject-object divides and seeks to create new sociographies rooted in community and collaboration.

Ukaigwe is also a founding member of the curatorial collective Patterns Collective, and has participated in residencies and exhibitions across Canada and internationally. His art is held in public collections, including the School of Art Gallery.

His work is a way of annotating, augmenting, defacing, transposing, and rewriting in the margins of history

National Gallery of Canada.

As part of the Sobey shortlist, Ukaigwe will receive $25,000 in prize money and will be featured in the 2025 Sobey Art Award Exhibition, which opens at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa on October 3, 2025, and runs through February 8, 2026. The overall winner, who will receive $100,000, will be announced during a special celebration on November 8, 2025.

Ukaigwe joins a remarkable cohort of shortlisted artists:

  • Tarralik Duffy (Circumpolar region)
  • Tania Willard (Pacific region)
  • Sandra Brewster (Ontario region)
  • Swapnaa Tamhane (Quebec region)
  • Hangama Amiri (Atlantic region)

Each artist was selected by an independent jury of leading curators and arts professionals from across Canada and abroad.

We’re thrilled to see Dubem’s work recognized on a national stage and can’t wait to see his contributions in the fall exhibition. Congratulations!

Learn more about the Sobey Art Award: gallery.ca/whats-on/sobey-art-award