The Vega Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada announce the joint acquisition of WINDWARD (2025), a film by internationally acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist Sharon Lockhart. The acquisition follows the development of the work as a co-commission and co-production by Shorefast/Fogo Island Arts, The Vega Foundation, and the National Gallery of Canada, with the support of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Filmed over the course of three summers on Fogo Island, off the northern coast of Newfoundland, WINDWARD builds on longstanding concerns in Lockhart’s practice, including her exploration of place, durational approach to attention, and sustained commitment to those who appear before her lens. The film finds a precedent in Colin Low’s 1967 documentary The Children of Fogo Island, which captured young people interacting within their communities, and was one of 27 films directed by Colin Low between 1966 and 1968 for the National Film Board of Canada as part of the Fogo Process, a participatory filmmaking project intended to foster dialogue among the island.

Structured as twelve compositions, WINDWARD carefully observes the island’s geography while directing its youth in play amid fields of tall grass, volcanic rocks, and crashing waves. Sea, sky, light, and weather become essential elements of each scene, while Lockhart’s distant framing makes the figures appear small within the landscape. Filmed on the island’s northern, windward end, the work takes cues from the persistent gusts that shape life there, with the children moving in and out of sight across Lockhart’s tableaux.

“WINDWARD reflects what is so distinctive about Sharon as a filmmaker: the way she uses time and careful observation to draw our attention to the relationships between people and the places they inhabit. The film asks us to slow down and attend to the subtle shifts in landscape, weather, and movement that unfold within each frame. That depth of attention is something we deeply value at Vega,” said Julia Paoli, Director & Curator of The Vega Foundation. “We want to support artists through the full life of a project, from creating the conditions for new work to take shape to building partnerships that allow it to live through presentation and acquisition. It is incredibly meaningful to see WINDWARD enter the National Gallery of Canada and The Vega Foundation’s collections, where it remains connected to the country and communities from which it emerged.”

“This acquisition marks an important milestone as the National Gallery of Canada’s first joint acquisition with a foundation,” said Jean‑François Bélisle, Director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada. “The Vega Foundation shares our commitment to supporting artists and advancing moving-image practices through ambitious, artist-centered commissions. WINDWARD is the result of a collaboration rooted in shared values and a common vision for how we support artists and connect audiences with contemporary art. Together, we are laying the foundation for a meaningful partnership while expanding access to exceptional works for Canadians, from coast to coast to coast.”

This joint acquisition reflects the National Gallery of Canada’s commitment to expanding access to art through its National Engagement initiative, which develops innovative partnerships that connect Canadians with art in their own communities. The collaboration with The Vega Foundation demonstrates how shared stewardship can support artists, broaden public access to contemporary art, and foster meaningful cultural engagement across Canada. The National Gallery of Canada’s National Engagement initiative is generously supported by Michael Nesbitt, with additional funding from the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.

The acquisition builds on The Vega Foundation’s involvement with WINDWARD from its development through its public presentation. This fall, the film will be presented as part of Sharon Lockhart’s solo exhibition, Fogo, at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, organized and developed by The Power Plant and The Vega Foundation.

Sharon Lockhart (b. 1964, Norwood, Massachusetts, US) creates installations, photography, film, painting, and sculpture that explore landscapes and those that inhabit them, leading a practice that builds upon deep, long-term commitments to her collaborators and subjects. Layered histories and a multifaceted present become the origins for concise, rigorous compositions that delicately interrogate attention and focus. Often undertaking extended projects that yield cycles of interconnected works across media, Lockhart employs a research-intensive approach to immerse herself within communities, building trust and bonds in the process.

Sharon Lockhart has been the subject of solo exhibitions at international museums and institutions, including Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (2025); Milwaukee Art Museum (2022, 2019); Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2021); Baltimore Museum of Art (2021); Fondazione Fotografia Modena (2018); Kunstmuseum Luzern (2015); Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2014); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2012); Secession, Vienna (2008); Kunstverein in Hamburg (2008); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2001); and MAK – AustrianMuseum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna (2000). Her work has been included in the Shanghai Biennale (2025, 2014), Biennale di Venezia (2017, Polish Pavilion), Liverpool Biennial (2014) and the Whitney Biennial, New York (1997, 2000, 2004). Her films have been presented in the New York Film Festival, Vienna International Film Festival, FIDMarseille, Berlin International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival. Lockhart lives and works in Los Angeles.

Lockhart’s work across film, photography, installation, painting, and sculpture centers on sustained relationships with people, communities, and histories. In 2017, she represented Poland at the 57th Venice Biennale with Little Review. Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions at institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Jewish Museum in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Kunstmuseum Luzern, among others, while her films have screened at the New York Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and other international festivals. Lockhart lives and works in Los Angeles.

Image: Sharon Lockhart, still from WINDWARD, 2025. 4K video (colour, sound), 70:00. Co-commissioned and co-produced by Shorefast/Fogo Island Arts, The Vega Foundation, and the National Gallery of Canada, with the support of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. © Sharon Lockhart, 2025.