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The Art Gallery of WA has announced the fourteen finalists who will be represented in the exhibition of the ‘Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards 2015’. This year’s selection panel included Amy Barrett-Lennard, Director of the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Kimberley Moulton, Project Officer for Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum and Clotilde Bullen, Curator of Indigenous Art at AGWA.
The artists who have been invited to participate in the awards exhibition have the opportunity to share in $65,000 in prizes. The awards comprise a group exhibition of outstanding art and three non-acquisitive awards totalling $65,000: the Western Australian Indigenous Art Award of $50,000; the Western Australian Artist Award of $10,000; and the People’s Choice Award of $5,000.
Clotilde Bullen, Curator of Indigenous Art at AGWA, said that, “In the sixth iteration of the Western Australia Indigenous Art Awards, the rich and astonishing diversity of Indigenous creative practice across the country is revealed. The Awards feature an exceptional selection of works of art that reflect the lived experiences of the artists and challenge the notions around what it means to be an Indigenous person in contemporary Australia. These works express and celebrate culture in distinctive and provocative ways. “The opportunity to travel to the furthest reaches of Australia, to remote communities and regional and urban centres to meet and collaborate with Indigenous artists working in such a wide variety of ways is a rare privilege afforded to a curator.”
The ‘Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards’, one of the richest Indigenous arts prizes in the country, is a national award founded in 2008 to celebrate the scope, diversity and excellence of art from all corners of Indigenous Australia. The awards acknowledge the significant and ongoing contribution Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists make to Australian art, culture and society.
The $50,000 ‘Western Australian Indigenous Art Award’ will be awarded to the artist whose work in the awards exhibition is considered by the selection panel to be the most outstanding. The winner of this award and the $10,000 recipient will be announced at the opening event on Friday 3rd July 2015. The People’s Choice Award of $5,000 will be presented at the end of the exhibition season to the artist who receives the highest number of visitor votes.
The Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards 2015 are on display at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 4 July through to 12 October 2015.
A list of the exhibition finalists:
Billy Yunkura Atkins, Megan Cope, Steaphan Paton, Betty Kuntiwa Pumani, Archie Moore, Carlene West, Simon Hogan, Sandra Hill, Vincent Namatjira, John Prince Siddon, Karla Dickens, Tjala Collaborative, Eunice Porter and Nongirrnga Marawili.
Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards 2013, installation view
