2026 PRIX POWERHOUSE
Tenth Edition of the Prix Powerhouse: Two Winners and an Exhibition in Fall 2026
This year, La Centrale is celebrating the tenth edition of the Prix Powerhouse, a landmark award that has recognized the commitment and work of Montreal artists since 2011. La Centrale is pleased to announce the 2026 winners, Lara Kramer and Diyar Mayil. Their work was selected by a jury of peers, which this year included curator Mojeanne Behzadi, curator and art critic Ariane De Blois, and artist Natacha Clitandre, winner of the 2024 Prix Powerhouse.
Lara Kramer and Diyar Mayil will participate in a joint exhibition this fall at La Centrale from September 24 to November 7, 2026. Join us for the awards ceremony and opening on September 24, followed by an artist talk on October 3, 2026.
Photo : Charlotte Rainville / jailli (Left : Diyar Mayil, right : Lara Kramer)
The PRIX POWERHOUSE is a 14 000$ biennial recognition award shared between two Montréal visual artists to celebrate their artistic journey. It is destined to women and gender-diverse people* who have reached the mid-stage in their career and contribute in a significant way to Montréal’s cultural life. This award honors artists who show perseverance and who continue their work by remaining committed in their approach. La Centrale would like to acknowledge the generous contribution of an anonymous donor who, since 2011, has made this award possible.
The award dovetails within La Centrale’s mandate to promote feminist artistic practices and to support under-represented artists in dominant cultural institutions. The centre is a platform for languages in contemporary art carried by feminisms, intersectionality and social justice.
Lara Kramer
Photo : jailli / Charlotte Rainville
Lara Kramer is a performer, choreographer, and multidisciplinary artist of mixed Oji-Cree and settler heritage, raised in London, Ontario, and based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. For over twenty years, she has created a practice grounded in intergenerational knowledge and the impacts of the Indian Residential School system; she is the first generation in her family not to attend. Her experimental practice spans performance, choreography, sound, and installation, rooted in embodied experiences of memory, dreams, and reclamation. She holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance (2008) and an MFA from Concordia University (2024) and has presented her work nationally and internationally.
Diyar Mayil
Photo : jailli / Charlotte Rainville
Diyar Mayil is an artist working in sculpture, installation and performance. She often works with the familiar to address issues of comfort, discomfort and the blurring of public and private contexts. She is the laureate for the Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art (2022) and the recipient of the Liz Crockford Award (2023). Her work has been supported by Canada Council for the Arts, CALQ, Conseil des arts de Montréal and has recently been shown at Whitney ISP, Articule, Circa Art Actuel and Centre Clark. Upcoming commitments include a group exhibition at Oakville Galleries and residencies at Hospitalfield and Edinburgh Sculpture Centre. Her work has been written about in Cmag, Espace, Public Parking, Zérodeux, La Presse, and Vie des Arts. She holds a BFA and MFA from Concordia University. Originally from Istanbul, she now lives and works in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal.
Our Jury
Co-winner of the 2024 Prix Powerhouse, Natacha Clitandre is an artist and has been a cultural worker for over twenty years. From 2017 to 2022, she developed the Slow Tech approach at the feminist artists' center Ada X. Of Haitian and Quebecois descent, she currently lives and works in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including at La Centrale galerie Powerhouse, the artist-run centre Verticale, PHI, the Espace culturel Séraphine Louis (Clermont, France), the Maison de la culture Janine-Sutto, the Centre des Arts de la Maison d'Haïti, and the Musée de la civilisation.
An art historian, curator, and author, Ariane De Blois has more than fifteen years of experience in the art world. With a PhD in art history from McGill University (2014), Ariane De Blois has played a key role in curating more than fifteen group and solo exhibitions in Quebec and internationally. She is currently the curator of collections and exhibitions at the Musée d'art de Joliette. Her writings, published in various journals and exhibition catalogs, reflect her acute analysis of contemporary social and artistic issues.
Mojeanne Behzadi is a curator at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. She has previously worked independently and for numerous art institutions, including Artexte and the National Gallery of Canada. She notably helped develop an international speaker series called Art Speaks with founder Lillian Mauer between 2016 and 2023, and conceived Trajectories, a contemporary art podcast produced for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2022. She recently curated a special edition of Les Nocturnes du MAC for the 60th anniversary of the museum titled A Saturnalia, an expanded program that featured performances, live arts, workshops, music and DJs.
