Six Canadian artists have been awarded the 2026 Rewilding Arts Prize, established in 2023 by the David Suzuki Foundation and Rewilding Magazine. The winners include Nicole McDonald-Fournier, whose project EmballeToi! repurposes old winter coats as plant-growing pots, and the Montreal/Toronto duo Masumi Rodriguez and Elena Kirby, who run community papermaking workshops using invasive plant species. The prize awards $2,000 to each artist and plans to feature their work in a future exhibition, following the inaugural winners' show at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.
The prize matters because it shifts the traditional role of artists in environmental advocacy from creating campaign visuals to recognizing independent, community-driven ecological art. By spotlighting artists who bring nature into urban and suburban settings—rather than working in pristine ecosystems—the prize broadens the definition of rewilding and encourages creative, grassroots approaches to biodiversity and climate awareness. It also provides a platform for artists whose unconventional materials, like living plants and invasive species, challenge conventional museum display.