The Polygon Gallery reveals 2026 Lind Prize finalists | Georgia Straight Vancouver’s source for arts, culture, and events

1 of 1 2 of 1 Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter.The Polygon Gallery has announced the five finalists for the 2026 Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize, spotlighting a group of artists pushing the boundaries of film, photography, and video across the province.Awarded biannually, the Lind Prize recognizes an emerging BC-based artist working in lens-based practices. The recipient receives $25,000 and the opportunity to collaborate with The Polygon on a future project, making it the largest prize in Canada dedicated to emerging artists in this field. This year’s finalists were selected from more than 60 nominees by an international jury that includes artist Stan Douglas, Forge Project executive director Candice Hopkins, and Museum für Moderne Kunst director Susanne Pfeffer.“We are thrilled to present new works by this year’s finalists — a cohort of artists and one artist collective who are re-defining the boundaries of lens-based art across the province,” shares Reid Shier, director of The Polygon, in a release. “Each artist in The Lind Biennial brings a vital perspective, with works that offer provocative standpoints in an increasingly fragmented world.”Here is who is in the running:Bagua Artist Association, founded in 2018 by Katharine Meng-Yuan Yi and Sean Cao, works from within Vancouver’s Chinatown, integrating photography and video into research-driven, socially engaged projects. Alejandro A. Barbosa, a queer Latinx artist, educator, and curator, investigates the politics of looking through lens-based media. Their work examines representation and queer lived experience, questioning who holds power behind and within the frame.Dana Qaddah centres themes of colonial legacies, environmental and economic deterioration, and displacement. Pegah Tabassinejad works across digital and live performance, film, and video installation. Her projects probe surveillance culture and the tension between virtual and physical presence, exploring how bodies are tracked, perceived, and controlled in public and private spaces.Ximena Velázquez engages image, sound, textiles, and performance to examine identity, desire, and memory from a queer perspective that moves across geographic borders. Her work has been presented internationally, and she also produces community-focused events supporting Latin American and dissident artists.Their work will be featured in the Lind Biennial, on view December 4, 2026 to February 7, 2027, with the winner revealed January 21. Join the discussion Facebook comments not loading? Please check your browser settings to ensure that it is not blocking Facebook from running on straight.com