This flannel shirt? It's sculptural beadwork. Why it's called an act of resistance connecting past and present

Aamjiwnaang artist Nico Williams has a stack of neon-dabbed bingo cards stuck to the fridge of his Montreal studio.

Flipping through the thick collection, Williams explains how his team will use these as models for his next project. 

"You'll see a wall of all these different sparkly cards," said Williams.

That sparkle will come from the beads the artist and his team use to create beadwork sculpture pieces some say breathe new life into a traditional Indigenous practice.

Williams can't make it through explaining his future plans without sharing a funny memory the bingo cards trigger. 

"I was actually playing bingo, collecting the cards and I won the jackpot. I was like 'Oh my gosh, how do I do this?!" he said through a huge smile.

In complete shock, his friends had to remind him to shout out 'bingo' so he could collect his prize.

Williams found himself in a similar state when he was awarded the Sobey Art Prize for his sculpted beadwork in November.

The award, organized and presented by the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, comes with a $100,000 prize.

"I was completely surprised," said Williams, who joins a roster of artists that includes Nadia Myre, a multidisciplinary artist he counts as one of his most influential role models.

Myre received that award in 2014, right around the same time Williams picked up beading.

"Being like a bush kid and seeing another Indigenous person get that award, it gave me hope. So I hope that this also gives all those bush kids out there some hope too."

Williams and his team of seven or eleven artists that he works with have been credited with creating work that connects people to a traditional practice while breaking stereotypes. 

"All these cards are winners," said Williams, thinking back to the bingo games he's played with other artists in Montreal and nearby Kahnawake.