A Sackville artist has been awarded one of Canada’s most prestigious honours for photographic artists.
Karen Stentaford, an associate fine arts professor at Mount Allison University, has been named this year’s winner of the Scotiabank Photography Award, becoming the first Atlantic Canadian to win the award in more than 15 years.
Stentaford is a Mount Allison alumna, having earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999. She also holds a Bachelor of Education with a Visual Arts Specialist focus from NSCAD University and Mount Saint Vincent University and Master of Arts in Photography from the Edinburgh College of Art.
The award, which recognizes the achievements of established mid-to-late career artists whose work has made significant contributions to contemporary photography in Canada, comes with a $50,000 cash prize, a solo Primary Exhibition at The Image Centre in Toronto, and a published book of her work, designed by Barr Gilmore and distributed internationally.
“I have been following the annual Scotiabank Photography Award since Edward Burtynsky co-founded it with Scotiabank in 2010. I have admired and celebrated the artists recognized over the years, so to hear my name called as the winner felt surreal,” Stentaford says. “It’s very exciting to be recognized by my peers on this national stage and have the opportunity to share my work more widely.”
Stentaford’s work is rooted in slow photography, repetition, and close looking — an approach that invites viewers to pause and consider the layered relationships between people, place, and the natural world. Since 2013, she has also engaged communities through participatory photography with her Photomatic Travelling Tintype Studio.
