Concordia alumna Sophie Jodoin wins inaugural Prix La Caisse en art actuel
Credit: Justine Latour
Sophie Jodoin, BFA 88, never expected the call that would change her week — and mark a milestone in her career. The Montreal artist won the inaugural Prix La Caisse en art actuel, a $25,000 award that recognizes Quebec’s leading mid-career artists.
“Winning came as a total surprise and took me a few days to absorb because it’s not a prize you apply for — you have to be nominated,” Jodoin says. “I am very touched and grateful because it’s a pretty important jury composed of curators from various museums in Quebec.”
The jurors were Bernard Lamarche, Curator of Contemporary Art (1960 to Present) at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec; Mark Lanctôt, curator at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art; and Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Curator of Quebec and Canadian Contemporary Art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, holder of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair.
‘A place of creativity and freedom’
A practicing artist for more than two decades, Jodoin explores identity and the body through drawing, collage, photography, video, text and installations. Her work “questions manifestations of femininity, intimacy, loss, absence and language.”
Jodoin’s pieces have been exhibited in many major institutions in Quebec and Canada, including at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.
“Sophie Jodoin occupies a unique place with a language all her own, producing works that are both intimate and powerful,” says Marie-Justine Snider, curator of La Caisse’s art collection. “By honouring her, we underscore the importance of her contribution to Québec’s cultural landscape, and hope to give her renewed impetus as she continues to pursue her artistic vision.”
More than a financial boost, the award acknowledges what it takes to sustain a creative practice over time. For Jodoin, that recognition feels personal. She’s weathered her share of financial and personal challenges throughout her career, but says, “You learn to approach them differently with experience and age.”
The first chapter of Jodoin’s trilogy Room(s) to move: je, tu, elle, curated by Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, takes stock of seven years of Jodoin’s practice through the portrait of a woman constructed at the intersection of three positions. (Photo at EXPRESSION Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe, 2017) | Credit: Éliane Excoffier
Jodoin cites her artistic development in Concordia’s Studio Art program, which continues to inform her celebrated career. “Concordia was a place of personal and professional discoveries and life experiences. Above all it was a place of creativity and freedom.”
Two of her former art history professors became lifelong mentors: renowned artist Peter Krausz, former curator and director of the Saidye Bronfman Centre Art Gallery, and painter Marion Wagschal, BA 65, who was the subject of a career retrospective at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2015.
“Peter believed in me before I believed in myself,” Jodoin says. “And Marion is a very important person for me, because she is a model of radicality, integrity and strength — not just in her work, but also in her life as a woman.”
Jodoin adds that winning the Prix La Caisse en art actuel did not happen in isolation.
“I’m part of a community,” she says, “I am thankful for all my artist friends and colleagues whose work, courage and determination continue to be a source of inspiration.”