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Congratulations to artist Andrea Francolini, who has been awarded the 2022 Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award for his work Read my lips, 2022, as part of the 2022 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize.
The William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize is an important annual survey of contemporary photographic practice in Australia. Every year MGA invites artists to submit photo-based media, including analogue and digital photography, created over the last year for consideration. The Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award is selected from the finalists’ works on view at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne.
Andrea Francolini, Read my lips, 2022, chromogenic print. Courtesy the artist
“We warmly congratulate Andrea Francolini on receiving the Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award for the 2022 Bowness Photography Prize. Read my lips is a striking image that is simultaneously engaging and perplexing, literally challenging the viewer to question preconceived notions of speech and the dissemination of information and ideas. Living in an age of anxiety, where ‘fake news’ has firmly entered our media landscape, Reads my lips assumes a complex and startling presence that haunts the viewer in its meaning and technical virtuosity.”
— Geoffrey Smith, Smith & Singer Chairman
The Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award was voted by the public during the exhibition period, with the recipient receiving $5,000 to support their practice. Francolini’s winning work challenges the conventions of portrait photography while drawing attention to the mechanics of photographic production.
“I was already over the moon to have been selected as a finalist in this year’s Bowness Photography Prize exhibition. Then to see my image used on a banner was even more overwhelming. Of course one enters a competition – especially of this calibre – hoping to win or at least be selected as a finalist. To win the People’s Choice Award was really special. I was a bit speechless when I received the call and am so honoured due to the calibre of the other images which made the final selection. Congratulations to everyone else and hopefully see you next year.”
— Andrea Francolini
More information: mga.org.au
