In honour of the Whitehorse 2007 Jeux du Canada Games, we are presenting a national exhbition by some of the country's most exceptional young and rising artists. The artists, all under 40, hail from across Canada, North and South, and were selected by a panel of judges representing their respective region.

Shuvinai Ashoona
Cape Dorset, Nunavut

Shuvinai Ashoona's past work refered to her environment - receding expanses of rocky tundra with sparse vegetation against horizons of aerial or closed-off perspective. Her more recent work has become less naturalistic and darker in mood. Ashoona's current work is primarily based on imagination rather than on observation of her physical world.

BGL
Quebec City, Quebec

BGL is a collective of three artists (Jasmin Bilodeau, Sebastien Giguere and Nicolas Laverdiere) who create projects based on the environment and ambient culture. Their primary source of material is wood. BGL uses humour and irony in their works, questioning practices of consumption and the objects that maintain them. BGL's sculpture and installations explore the natural and tangible in an increasingly artificial and virtual world.

Brian Jungen
Vancouver, BC

Brian Jungen's work weaves brilliant insights into contemporary culture with traditional representations of his Dunne-za heritage and clever use of pop culture materials. Inaugural Sobey Art Award winner in 2002, Jungen imaginatively and critically transforms consumer goods into anthropomorphic forms ranging from Aboriginal sculpture to displays in natural history museums and retail spaces. His work integrates the complex circuitry of desire, parody, and fetishism that shape global cultural and economic exchange.

Craig Leblanc
Calgary, Alberta

Craig Leblanc's early art practice was mainly traditional two-dimensional work. He has moved into sculpture and now creates site-specific, mixed media installation and conceptual art. Leblanc's work has developed rapidly into a body of objects and installations that investigate social reaction. These inquire into our interactions within the public domain, questioning the placements of sport and art in a Canadian socio-cultural context.

Annie Pootoogook
Cape Dorset, Nunavut

Annie Pootoogook comes from a long line of distinguished artists. She has developed her own unique style. Mixed with contemporary references to community scenes, relatives and common beliefs that convey a sense of recording history and archiving everyday experiences, Pootoogook treats all her subject matters, whether joyous or tragic, with the same care. She often juxtaposes "old" and "new" pastimes, providing a unique perspective on their coexistence in the modern Arctic world.

John Sabourin
Slavey First Nation, Fort Simpson, NWT

John Sabourin, a contemporary artist born and raised in Fort Simpson, NWT, works in sculpture and painting. His Dene cultural identity merges Northern customs and modern visions often resulting in abstract work highlighting texture and form, as well as subject. Sabourin's paintings often explore the complex relationships between humans and nature; as a carver he embraces his Aboriginal culture, bringing stone to life through stories and legends.

Doug Smarch Jr.
Tlingit Nation, Teslin, Yukon

Doug Smarch Jr. is an artist of Tlingit origin who sees himself as a catalyst for re-telling his community's stories and legends. Combining modern technology with natural materials, Smarch attempts to reveal the Elders' visions of what might have been and what the Elders of his community might have foreseen. Smarch's work delves into the make-believe while using cutting-edge computer programs to tell these ancient legends.

Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Duke and Battersby have been working collaboratively since June 1994. Their primary practice is the production of single-channel video. Their work reflects self-assurance, improbability and sadness, but mainly the personalities of the artists themselves. The couple stars in many of their videos and they place their bodies, faces, and voices in beguiling and surprising combinations. Their performances hinge on language limitations and how speech and writing can articulate systems of control or, conversely, new forms of freedom.