The Churchie Committee and the Institute of Modern Art (IMA), announced the finalists for the Churchie National Emerging Art Prize 2019. The finalists were chosen from more than 450 entries.
Churchie now offers a lucrative $25,000 total prize pool to support the careers of Australia’s top emerging visual artists. The pre-selection panel consisted of Madeleine King (IMA Assistant Director), Tess Maunder (independent curator), Robert Andrew (artist) and Ben Hugheston-Roberts (Churchie Visual Arts Teacher). Tess Maunder said, “Contemporary Australia is best represented through its multiplicities, and the entries we received this year were representative of this layered sense of identity across the country. It was excellent to see this
come through with the submitted practices. For instance practices representing First Nations, culturally and lingually diverse perspectives alongside people representing a wide range of positions from the LGBTIQ+ community. These entries were not tokenistic, but instead pushed the very frameworks of the assumptions we place upon these communities. Alongside this, there was a strong focus on the return of the ceramics, the hand-made and process-based practices.”
The exhibition will remain open until 21 December and will feature artworks from each of the finalists. The overall prize winner will be awarded a $15,000 non-acquisitive cash prize sponsored by long-time supporters BSPN Architecture.
There is also two Commendation Prizes of $1000 each up for grabs (sponsored by Madison Cleaning and Painting Services). Additionally there is a highly Commended Prize of $5000 (sponsored by Fardoulys Constructions). There is also prize money for the People’s Choice Award of $3000 (sponsored by Rob Whiteley of Madison Cleaning Services) which will be awarded following the completion of the exhibition.
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