Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Announces Séamus Gallagher as Winner of the 2027 Barbara Spohr Memorial Award for Photography

This annual residency is awarded to a mid-career Canadian contemporary photographer whose practice is making a compelling contribution to the field. This prize includes a fully funded month-long, self-directed residency at Banff Centre’s Crich Studio in the Leighton Artist Studios program.  

BANFF, AB, SEPTEMBER 17, 2026 – Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is proud to announce Séamus Gallagher (they/them) as the 2027 recipient of the Barbara Spohr Memorial Award for Photography, facilitated through the Leighton Artist Studios program. This signature Banff Centre program offers a rare opportunity for artists and creatives: uninterrupted time and dedicated space to independently develop their practice.

Born in 1955 in Vancouver, B.C., Barbara Spohr was interested in capturing the ever-present beauty and whimsy of everyday life. She came to Banff Centre in 1974 for the drawing and painting summer session and the following year for weaving. She was also in Studio Art, where she was a painting assistant from 1975-1977. Her photographs are a cheerful record of daily life and have been exhibited across Canada and the United States. 

The Barbara Spohr Memorial Award was created by friends and family in 1987 in honour of the late artist to encourage the development of Canadian contemporary photography by providing financial and creative assistance to mid-career artists. 

Séamus Gallagher is a lens-based artist from Moncton, New Brunswick. Their practice often takes the form of photographs, videos, and installations, while also incorporating video game design, drag, performance, and set construction and world-building elements.

Using alternative photo processes on lightweight fabric and a mixture of archival imagery and photographs taken while in Banff, Gallagher will use their residency to work through the grief of losing an admired friend or artist. 

Similar to their previous work, strychnos electri (2025), where the artist brought an extinct flower to life in the form of a large soft sculpture, Gallagher will convert 3D models into sewing patterns and reconstruct the digital models into textile works in their Banff Centre residency project. Each soft sculpture will be made of fabric printed with photo collages and attached to air blowers, which pump air through the piece at short intervals. As the sculpture turns on and off, it creates an expanding and compressing movement as if trying to resuscitate itself.

Gallagher will be in residence from Tuesday, January 19 to Friday, February 12, 2027, with 24-hour access to the Crich Studio, a Leighton Artist Studio equipped with private analogue darkroom facilities. This residency provides access to digital photographic production resources and support from Banff Centre’s photography facilitator. In addition to studio space, the award provides meals and accommodation.

Gallagher will also present a free public talk on Thursday, February 4, from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Building at Banff Centre. During their artist talk, Gallagher will discuss their broader practice and interest in hauntology, queer ecology, camp, mimicry, limits of representation, and failure as a form of liberation. This talk will also be available to attend online.

To find out when the 2028 Barbara Spohr Memorial Award will open for submissions, visit banffcentre.ca/leighton-artist-studios.

To learn more about funding opportunities for artists at Banff Centre, visit banffcentre.ca/funding-opportunities-artists. 
 

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For photos, information, or interview requests, please contact:
 

Carly Maga                             
Director, Communications                         
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity             
tel: +1.403.763.6210                
cell: +1.403.431.3423                
carly_maga@banffcentre.ca  

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Founded in 1933, Banff Centre is a post-secondary institution built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and leadership development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become a global organization leading in arts, culture, and creative decision-making across dozens of disciplines, from the fine arts to Indigenous Wise Practices. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to move everyone who attends our campus—artists, leaders, thinkers, and audiences—to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to build an innovative, inspiring future through education, performances, convenings, and public outreach. banffcentre.ca

Banff Centre
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta
Canada
T1L 1H5
403.762.6100
www.banffcentre.ca

We recognize, with deep respect and gratitude, our home on the side of Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain. In the spirit of respect and truth, we honour and acknowledge the Banff area, known as “Minihrpa” (translated in Stoney Nakoda as “the waterfalls”) and the Treaty 7 territory and oral practices of the Îyârhe Nakoda (Stoney Nakoda) – comprised of the Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney Nations – as well as the Tsuut’ina First Nation and the Blackfoot Confederacy comprised of the Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai. We acknowledge that this territory is home to the Shuswap Nations, Ktunaxa Nations, and Métis Nation of Alberta, Rockyview District 4. We acknowledge all Nations who live, work, and play here, help us steward this land, and honour and celebrate this place.