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Congratulations to the thirteen finalists of 2023’s the churchie emerging art prize, renowned for showcasing the next wave of early-career artists.
This year’s finalists are: Alrey Batol, Amanda Bennetts, Dylan Bolger, Luke Brennan, Matthew Brown, Raf McDonald, Corben Mudjandi, Melody Paloma, Roberta Joy Rich, Joel Spring, Jess Tan, Debbie Taylor-Worley, and Ash Tower. Their works span painting, sculpture, video, drawing, printmaking, and photography.
“The exhibition is organised around the theme of context”, explains curator Sebastian Henry-Jones, “recognising that artists’ practices are linked to particularities of time and place – to the cultural, social, economic, and historic conditions that shape their lives on this continent.”
Jess Tan, extended stretch-semicircular canal (la-la-la-la-la), 2022. Photograph: Jack Ball. Courtesy the artist and Sweet Pea, Perth
Bennetts’ installations highlight the coldness of metal handrails, the sterility of medical devices, and the labour of self-care for those with disabilities in a wellness-obsessed society. Mudjandi’s nostalgic analogue photographs explore being on Country – capturing scenes of family, nature, and hunting. Rich’s video and installation works explore resilience and power, referring to history, popular culture, and her diaspora southern African Cape identity.
Spring’s work examines the contested narratives of Australia’s urban cultural and Indigenous histories. Tan’s sculptures morph out of what she has eaten, found, and previously made, transforming her materials to create new and unusual emotional responses to them. And Tower explores Australia’s history of nuclear weapons testing by comparing atomic technology and funerary practices through associated materials: lead, vinyl, and glass.
the churchie offers a $25,000 prize pool: a $15,000 non-acquisitive major prize, a $5,000 special commendation prize, two $1,000 commendation prizes, and a $3,000 People’s Choice Award.
the churchie finalist exhibition will be held at Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art from 20 May to 19 August 2023, with the winner announced on Friday 2 June.
