Liz Magor

2009 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts

Liz Magor is a prominent Canadian artist, celebrated for her sculpture, installation, public art and photography. Her work investigates ordinary everyday objects and reimagines them in new contexts.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1948, Liz Magor moved to Prince Rupert with her family in the early 1950’s. She studied at the University of British Columbia, Parson School of Design and the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University for Art and Design).

Liz Magor’s earlier work investigated natural materials, especially organically occurring non-manufactured objects that were nearly identical. Her fascination with the process of creation and destruction is reflected in her decision to use materials that decay overtime.

From 1980 to 1992, Liz Magor lived in Toronto where she began to incorporate more direct storytelling into her work. She started using photographs as part of her installation and as a way to examine subject matters concerning identity.
A distinguished artist, Liz Magor has been honoured with the York Wilson Endowment Award (2000), the Governor General’s Visual Arts Award (2001), the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts (2009) and the Gershon Iskowitz Prize (2014).

Liz Magor currently lives in Vancouver, BC and teaches at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Her recent work has explored questions about individual refuge in modern society and the oddities of the wilderness as the ultimate refuge. Her art has been featured in solo and group exhibitions around the world. The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and the Audian Art Museum in Whistler, BC houses several of her pieces in its permanent collection.