HALIFAX, Nov. 8 /CNW/ - Breathing Under Water, a richly complex video
installation involving projection, sound, and sculptural objects, by Halifax
artist Glynis Humphrey has won the $25,000 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
Masterworks Arts Award for 2007. Ms. Humphrey received her prize today from
the Nova Scotia Masterworks Awards Foundation at a reception at the Art
Gallery of Nova Scotia. Creators of the other four finalist works, Georgette
LeBlanc (Alma), Illuminated Petragraphs (Lorraine Field), Elizabeth Goluch
(I'll Sing in the Sunshine: Cicada), and John Little (Tectonic Shift), each
received $1500.
    Jurors for the 2007 Award were: Paul-Emile Comeau, Saulnierville; Imelda
George, Arichat; Susan Gibson Garvey, Canning; Shauntay Grant, Halifax; and
Alain Raimbault, Kingston. In announcing their selection, the jury wrote:
Breathing Under Water "is an experiential work that is all-consuming. Its
effect is sensuous and physical and it stays with the participant in a
visceral way, having the potential to change the participants' state of mind.
This is an ambitious work that stretches the medium of video installation. It
speaks to a contrast between the interior and the exterior, between the
repulsive and the beautiful, between terror and tranquility. The work is
experienced as an immersion of bodily, human conditions - birth, death,
pregnancy, drowning. Although it has strong feminist content, its relevance is
cross-cultural and resonates with all human beings. Overall, it is an
impressive work on many planes: intellectual, visual and sensual."
    "At Scotiabank, we are all about people - our customers and employees -
and we're committed to supporting the communities in which we work and live,"
said John Oliver, Senior Vice-President, Atlantic Region. "We are proud to
sponsor the 2007 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award and
to celebrate the richness of arts and culture through this event.
Congratulations to Ms. Humphrey for this great accomplishment."
    "I congratulate Ms. Humphrey for creating such a striking and challenging
work of art," said the Honourable Mayann E. Francis, Lieutenant Governor of
Nova Scotia. "As with all great art, it commands our attention and demands a
reaction." Scotiabank, the Province of Nova Scotia, the Craig Foundation and
the Halifax Herald Ltd. are the 2007 sponsors of the Lieutenant Governor of
Nova Scotia Masterwork Arts Award. The award is presented the artist of a
particular work of art or performance of art, which has made a significant
impact in its public presentation and has contributed to the historical
development and contemporary practice of the art form.