Ottawa, June 26, 2007 The Canada Council for the Arts announced today that photographer Scott Walden, a native of Toronto, is the winner of the Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography for 2007.
The Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography was established by the Canadian government in 1986 through an endowment to the Canada Council of $170,000 for an annual prize in photography. The prize is given to the best professional artist in photography in the competition for a Canada Council project grant. The $8,000 prize is awarded in addition to the recipient's grant.
Scott Walden was selected by a peer assessment committee made up of: Pierre Dorion (Montreal), Rosalie Favell (Ottawa), Jennifer Macklem (Sackville, NB), Mireille Perron (Calgary), and Ron Terada (Vancouver).
Images of Mr. Walden and his work can be downloaded from the Canada Council image gallery.
Scott Walden
Born in Toronto, Scott Walden divides his time between New York, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. His training in the philosophy of mind and language informs his photography, which examines the potential for discursive and pictorial forms of representation in dealing with memory and place. His writings on photography explore the nature of photographic truth and objectivity, and the ways our assumptions about these affect how we view and interpret photographs.
Mr. Walden's images have been exhibited widely in Canada and the United States, and have been reproduced in Prefix Photo, CVPhoto and Maclean's Magazine. He has published reviews and essays in C Magazine, The Southern Journal of Philosophy and The British Journal of Aesthetics. Mr. Walden is also editor of Photography and Philosophy: New Essays on the Pencil of Nature (Blackwell Publishing, 2007), and author of Places Lost: In Search of Newfoundland's Resettled Communities (Lynx Images, 2003). His work has been supported by multiple grants from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Mr. Walden holds degrees from the Graduate Center, City University of New York (Ph.D. 1994), Dalhousie University (M.A. 1985), and the University of Western Ontario (B.A. 1984). He is currently Visiting Scholar in the Department of Philosophy at New York University.
General information
The Canada Council for the Arts, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2007, is a national arm's-length agency created by an Act of Parliament in 1957. In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts in Canada, the Canada Council administers and awards prizes and fellowships to over 100 artists and scholars annually in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, and engineering. Among these are the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, the Governor General's Literary Awards, the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, the York Wilson Endowment Award and the Prix de Rome in Architecture.
For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Janet Riedel Pigott, Acting Director, Endowments and Prizes, at 613-566-4414 or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 5041; or Danielle Sarault, Acting Program Officer, Endowments and Prizes, at 613-566-4414 or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 4116.
