Long-time Vancouver artist Rebecca Belmore is among the winners of the 2013 Governor General’s Awards for Visual and Media Arts. The Canada Council for the Arts today (March 12) announced the seven recipients of the $25,000 prizes, which recognize career achievement.

“I’m pleased to have survived as an artist in terms of being able to make a living from my work even though it’s had highs and lows and been really tough at times,” Belmore told the Straight. “But I think this award is something that I’ll take as an acknowledgement of how difficult it is to be an artist in this country and make a living.”

Belmore is an award-winning, multidisciplinary artist whose career has spanned more than 25 years. She works in a range of mediums, including performance, sculpture, video, and photography.

“I’m interested in trying to reconsider history, to think about specific politically charged moments. So yeah, I’m just hoping that people respond to it and think about the ideas that I’m trying to get at.”

Belmore relocated to Winnipeg last year after living in Vancouver for more than a decade. She praised the colleagues and galleries she worked with in Vancouver for their support.

“I think I arrived in Vancouver at a good time, at a good point in my career, kind of when I was just getting control of my work and having a clearer sense of my ideas and how I wanted to work as an artist. I think it was a good moment for me, really.”

Belmore previously made headlines after Toronto’s Pari Nadimi Gallery launched a lawsuit against her over her split with the art dealer. She said the legal dispute has since been settled out of court and she cannot comment on the details.

The other Governor General’s award winners are painter and sculptor Marcel Barbeau, filmmaker William D. MacGillivray, sound artist Gordon Monahan, potter Greg Payce, art critic Chantal Pontbriand, and installation artist Colette Whiten. Gov.-Gen. David Johnston presents the awards during a ceremony in Ottawa on March 20.