Alison Mackay, of St George’s Basin on the NSW South Coast, has won the 2020 Gallipoli Art Prize – a $20,000 acquisitive prize funded by the Gallipoli Memorial Club, reflecting its creed of ‘loyalty, courage, respect, comradeship and love of country’ – with her powerful work Breathe depicting nine different gas masks, mostly from WWI.
Mackay began thinking about breathing masks and respirators over the summer period when the bushfires were at their worst. In the statement accompanying her work Breathe depicting a series of gas masks, artist Alison Mackay talks of her personal experience of the recent bushfires, the mask she needed to wear for protection and the heroism of the Rural Fire Service.
‘We spent New Year’s Eve dressed in masks and goggles to protect our eyes and lungs from smoke as we stayed to defend our home from potential ember attack. It was a scary time for everyone, but particularly it reminded me what an extraordinary job the RFS were doing day after day to keep us all safe. We owe them a great debt of thanks for their bravery. Their courage and comradeship reminded me of the ANZAC spirit.
‘With the world now battling coronavirus, the painting has a certain prescience although it was painted before the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Australia,’ said John Robertson, President of the Club and one of the judges of the prize. ‘The title Breathe is perhaps a timely reminder that, in these difficult days, we all need to take a moment to breathe.’
Alison Mackay with winning work, Breathe. Image courtesy of the artist
The judges highly commended The Telegram by Lori Pensini of Boyup Brook, WA for her painting of a woman receiving devastating news. In her accompanying statement, Pensini talks of her grandmother and ‘the unrelenting trepidation clinging to her folds like the rolling dust clouds at her skirt hem, as she prepares for the 2-day horse ride to town. She tells of the foreboding waiting for a telegram to arrive, the angst of not knowing and the dread to come upon knowing. This painting is a tribute to the rural women that fought the loneliness of war and the ever lingering threat of an uncertain future on the land without their loved ones.’
The judges also highly commended Major Smith’s Petrichor by Diedre Bean of Newcastle, NSW for her watercolour of L1A1 gas-operated semi-automatic rifle, the standard-issue personal weapon for Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War. In the background are lightly sketched rubber trees which Bean invites the viewer to ‘imagine petrichor, the smell of the first drops of rain, warning of a tropical downpour.’ In her accompanying statement, Bean says ‘Major Smith’s Petrichor is not intended to glorify weaponry or war, but to remind us of the courage and heroism our soldiers exemplified in the pursuit of peace.’
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Gallipoli Art Prize will not be hung in a public exhibition as has been done for the last 15 years at the Gallipoli Memorial Club in Sydney; instead, people are invited to experience the works online. A virtual tour of the exhibition using 360-degree photography will also be available via the website from Tuesday 21 April 2020. The Gallipoli Memorial Club is hopeful that a physical exhibition of this year’s prize can be held later in the year.
