The Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) has announced the winners of the 2022 Schenberg Art Fellowship.
For the first time, the Fellowship, presented in partnership with the University of Western Australia to outstanding Hatched artists, has been split into three awards, allowing more of Australia’s talented, emerging artists the opportunity to advance their practices through this vital financial support.

Erin Hallyburton, Greasy Paper Torn Open With Eager Hands, Salt Licked, Fingers Sucked, 2021, handmade waste oil soap, steel rod, earthenware clay, vegetable shortening, tallow, sunflower oil drums, marine plywood, cheddar cheese. Photograph: Andrew Curtis
Congratulations to the following winners:
The Schenberg Art Fellowship of $35,000, the largest prize for an emerging artist in Australia, has been awarded to Erin Hallyburton, a graduate of Monash University.
Schenberg Art High Commendation of $10,000 has been awarded to Remy Faint, a graduate of the University of New South Wales.
Schenberg Art Commendation of $5,000 has been awarded to Ilona McGuire, a graduate of Curtin University.
The announcement was made at the Hatched National Graduate Show 2022 opening event at PICA on Friday, 13 May.
The annual exhibition offers an intriguing snapshot of the nation’s current contemporary art practices and trends and the role of arts education in fostering critical thought. Twenty-five emerging artists question complex socio-cultural issues from digital identity and data theft to family and cultural connections and legacies of colonialism through installation, digital art, hand-crafted ceramic and textile pieces, and works made from rendered fish and chip shop fat.
This year’s judges were Amy Barrett-Lennard, Director, PICA; Justine Ambrosio, Manager, Engagement and Education, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery; and Michael Bianco, Director, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. The judges felt that Hallyburton’s work was an extremely sophisticated engagement with materiality, process and form: “Her use of waste oils and fats elicit a visceral response from viewers, in a refined and intriguing exploration of identity, class and the immigrant experience. Erin’s exquisitely paired back installation tests our perceptions of fatness through the mutability of her materials and their relation to our own bodies.”
Hatched National Graduate Show 2022 is on view at PICA until 17 July 2022.