With a wide body of works that invite viewers into the deaf world, Laurie is awarded the largest cash prize for Canadian artists with disabilities.
CALGARY – The National accessArts Centre presented by TD (NaAC), Canada’s largest disability arts organization, is pleased to announce the winner of the 2025 Won Lee Prize: Laurie M. Landry from Vancouver, British Columbia. The Won Lee Prize, administered by the NaAC, is Canada’s largest cash prize awarded to a Canadian visual artist with a disability.
“Laurie is an incredible artist who pushes the boundaries of contemporary art through her technically exquisite paintings. She embodies exactly what the NaAC stands for. She is gentle, kind, positive, and fierce, inviting viewers into the deaf world, while unabashedly making work which is based on her lived experience and emotional depth.”
– Jung-Suk (JS) Ryu, President and CEO, NaAC
“Laurie paints about hands, language, and identity, and she does it with honesty. I love it when artists have such a clear connection between their statements and practices. Laurie’s work can be appreciated and discussed within the context of De’VIA, deaf and disability art and contemporary art, which is why I am so delighted she is receiving recognition, which will give her work the national visibility she deserves.”
– Kay Slater, Member of the 2025 Won Lee Prize Jury
“I’m honored to receive the Won Lee Prize. This recognition is meaningful to me as it affirms the stories and lived experiences I strive to honor through my work. The support allows me to continue building a practice rooted in representation and community, and to keep centering the voices that need greater visibility.”
– Laurie M. Landry, Winner of the 2025 Won Lee Prize
The announcement was made on November 27, 2025 at an event hosted by the NaAC at the Ranchmen’s Club of Calgary.
All 2025 nominations were reviewed by the jury panel, led by the National access Arts Centre’s Lead of Programs and exhibitions, Morgan Possberg.
Members of the 2025 Jury:
Kay Slater
Kay Slater is an arts worker and artist working on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil Waututh peoples, in colonially named Vancouver, BC. Kay’s practice is grounded in five evolving themes: permission, access, process, silence, and care—often explored through mistakes and conflict, with a focus on learning rather than fixing or punishing. They are white, queer, hard of hearing, and mad. kdot.ca
Myung-Sun Kim
Myung-Sun Kim is an artist and an independent curator, based in Toronto, Canada. My work as an artist explores questions of belonging, inheritance, silenced histories, foodways, kinship, queerness, rituals and lineage. She has presented my work across North America and in Finland, including Art Gallery of Ontario, MOCA Toronto, FADO Performance Art Centre, Gardiner Museum, and Plug In ICA. Her curatorial practice spans the visual arts, film/video, theatre, and live-arts sectors. She has led curatorial programming at galleries and festivals including Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Inside Out Film Festival, The Theatre Centre, the Toronto Biennial of Art as the Co-Curator of Public Programming & Learning, and at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre (2022) as a guest curator.
“This prize acknowledges Laurie Landry’s lifelong dedication to her practice and the deaf community. “
– Myung-Sun Kim
Sanaa Humayun
Sanaa Humayun (she/her) an artist, writer, & curator, living and working in Hamilton, ON. Her practice thinks about gossip, secret sharing, and play and joy as acts of resistance. She cares most about sharing food and laughter with her loved ones,and is constantly trying to capture that sweet feeling in her weavings. You can usually find her laughing a little too loudly with her friends in public places.
“The strength of Laurie’s work lies in its honesty. Her paintings tenderly create visibility for deaf artists and access for deaf artists, makers, and viewers, speaking to and of them directly in their gestures. It was genuinely an honour and delight to advocate for her work to receive the Won Lee Prize.”
– Sanaa Humayun
