Twenty-five finalists were selected from over eighty entries across Australia for the 2024 Koori Mail Indigenous Art Award, a new art prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists working in any medium.
Congratulations:
Kylie Caldwell, Elisa Jane Carmichael, Bindimu Currie, Karla Dickens, Penny Evans, Clare Jaque Vasquez, Kieran Karritpul, Virginia Keft, Melissa Ladkin, Jenna Lee, Emma McNeill, Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart AM, Gail Neuss, Puuni Nungarrayi, Jenn Rowe, Marita Sambono, Damien Shen, Anthony Walker.
Youth finalists: Ezra Baker, Tykiah Brown, Judy Ganambarr, Harley Green, Aria Kitchener, Zyon Nona, Chloe Rhodes.
“Featuring works from artists based in remote Country to urban city mob and the Zenadth Kes, the artworks presented highlight the diversity of Indigenous cultural expression, identity, and story,” said guest judge Rebecca Ray, Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections and Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
Penny Evans, The Elephant, 2024. Courtesy the artist
The winner of the major non-acquisitive $10,000 Koori Mail Art Award is Penny Evans for her ceramic vessels collectively titled The Elephant, 2024. “They are more than objects; they are acts of resistance, storytelling, and reclamation. Each piece tells a story of survival and strength,” notes Ray. “By fusing traditional practices of Gomeroi mark making with contemporary politics, such as the Referendum, this body of work is both timeless and fiercely relevant.”
Melissa Ladkin Balun, Milky Way, 2023. Courtesy the artist
Highly commended was Melissa Ladkin Balun’s Milky Way, 2023. Ray said: “This work speaks deeply to the interconnectedness of all things and reflects a worldview where the celestial and terrestrial are inextricably linked. Her distinctive visual language resonates with the infinite vastness of the cosmos that echoes back to the deepest depths of the oceans. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, just as many Indigenous peoples across the globe, have observed the night skies for millennia. It is where ancestral beings exist, it is a map and guide to navigation, it is seasons and cultural practice.”
Damien Shen, Entombed in Joy, 2024. Courtesy the artist
The winner of the $3,000 Innovation Award is Damien Shen’s Entombed in Joy, 2024. For Ray, the work draws inspiration from shield making, and “reflects the strength and adaptability of Indigenous peoples while simultaneously challenging narrow, colonial views of Aboriginal identity.” She adds, “Through his intricate and layered works, the artist delves into the contemporary understandings of the self, weaving together his Ngarrindjeri, Kaurna and Chinese heritage to articulate the complexity of Indigenous identities. His use of shields—objects of protection and cultural significance—become a metaphor for resistance, survival, and the layers of identity that safeguard the spirit against erasure. These shields are not just cultural artifacts; they are vessels of memory, connection, and happiness.”
Aria Kitchener, Born to Revolt, 2023. Courtesy the artist
The winner of the $500 Friends of the Gallery Youth Award is Aria Kitchener’s Born to Revolt, 2023. Ray noted that digital art has become a transformative tool for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, offering a platform to assert cultural identity, share stories and challenge colonial narratives. “The youth artwork selected, highlights not only the artistic skill and merit of the medium, but captures the emotions of our young people as well as the ongoing displays of Aboriginal activism through art. It is a powerful piece, reminding us that the Indigenous identity is inherently political and that the struggle and fight for sovereignty, recognition and survival is not over.”
Highly commended was Zyon Nona for The Australian Dream, 2024, the first artwork created by the artist, “and one that is so deeply personal, brave and important. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and men have faced enduring racial discrimination for centuries,” says Ray.
The Koori Mail Indigenous Art Award is a biannual award hosted at Lismore Regional Gallery, sponsored by The Koori Mail. The 2024 shortlisted works are on exhibition at Lismore Regional Gallery, located in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, until 2 February 2025.
