Zainub Verjee Received Governor General’s Award at Rideau Hall, Ottawa, Canada

December 8, 2023.
A Celebration of Excellence with the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media
Arts

“Art is a powerful medium with the ability to connect us, no matter how different our experiences may be,” remarked Her Excellency Mary Simon, the Governor General of Canada.

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, presented Canada’s top visual arts honours to outstanding Canadians during a ceremony at Rideau Hall on December 8th in Ottawa.

The Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts represent the most prestigious distinctions for artistic merit and outstanding contribution to the visual and media arts in Canada.

A recipient of the Governor General’s Visual and Media Arts Award for Outstanding Contribution for 2020, Zainub Verjee was presented with the medal, a special-edition crafted by the Royal Canadian Mint. At Rideau Hall, the citation introduced Verjee to Her Excellency, underscoring her exceptional contribution to the arts read:

“Working with as much regard for the centre as for the periphery, Verjee’s modus operandi has been one of developing platforms for the disparate constituents of the Canadian artistic community . . . throughout her career in arts administration, she has managed to leaven effective space for ‘wild’ innovation and ‘undisciplined’ dissent. She has channelled these disruptive energies towards achieving change at the heart of power, while maintaining some degree of functional harmony for the whole. As early as the 1980s, Zainub had begun to address what have since become the formative themes in Canadian visual and media arts. Through her art practice, critical writings, distribution activities, programming, policy work and leadership, she has taken bold and challenging positions on questions of diversity, access, technology and artist’s rights. All these issues have become pillars in the formation of the sector.”

The Governor General’s Award medallion, measuring 75 mm (three inches), features a maple tree emblem flanked by two crowned lion’s heads. The maple symbolizes the Canada Council, and the lions represent the vice-regal emblem of the Governor General. The crowns denote Canada, and their two-fold presence signifies the two disciplines recognized by the award. The medallion bears the motto ‘Excellentiae in artibus causa’ [for excellence in the arts] and is engraved with ‘Canada Council for the Arts’ on the edge.

Each year, the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts honour up to eight artists: six for distinguished achievement in the visual or media arts, one for the Saidye Bronfman Award for excellence in the fine crafts, and one award to recognize outstanding contribution to contemporary visual arts, media arts and fine crafts.

Due to the pandemic, the official ceremonies at Rideau Hall for the awards were suspended. This year all the four cohorts, from 2020 to 2023 were recognized during the ceremony and 31 artists were honoured in a memorable ceremony.

The Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts are administered by the Canada Council for the Arts. The awards were created in 1999, by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Governor General of Canada. The awards celebrate the vibrant arts community in Canada and recognize remarkable careers in the visual and media arts.