The annual Remagine Art Prize challenges artists to create works in response to the crisis we are all facing with waste and over-consumption. The theme for 2024 is ‘Crossroads of Consumption’, referring to how our everyday consumption can be reduced to limit the impacts of waste and climate change.
Lane Cove-based artist Phoebe Stone was awarded the $5,000 first prize for her oil and pastel painting, Serene Sea. Inspiration for Stone’s work came when she was walking the Gadyan track around Sydney’s Berry Island Reserve, and her eye was taken through the native scrub and over to a large oil tanker. “Its hull was faded black and rusty red in hue,” says the artist. “The irony of the name of the tanker ‘Serene Sea’ really struck me. An oil tanker, serenity? A ‘Serene Sea’? As I walked on, I couldn’t help but muse that this might be a plea from the workers of the ship; a serene sea, a safe passage home.”
“Yet as thoughts about excessive consumption, endless industries devouring fossil fuels, rising temperatures and sea levels swam around my head, I realised, this isn’t just their plea, it’s ours too,” contemplates Stone. “If we aren’t careful and if we do not keep our seas serene, in a relatively short space of time, no one will be able to walk this track.”

2024 Remagine Art Prize Winner: Phoebe Stone, Serene Sea
Mascot-based artist Chris Gleisner was awarded Highly Commended, winning $2,500 in prize money for her work The Sixth Extinction: a Shortlist.
“This short-list represents an ongoing existential crisis: an estimated 1 million species of flora and fauna are threatened with extinction in the upcoming decades. The primary human causal factors in descending order are habitat destruction, overexploitation, invasive species, pollution, and now climate change. As humans continue to consume the natural world at unsustainable rates, the looming question arises: when will humanity join the list of extinctions?” said Gleisner.
Mount Kuring-gai artist James Birch collected the Local Artist Award and a $1,000 prize for his work SCRAPS, and Waitara resident Coco X Huang won the Youth Award (18–25 years) and $1,000 in prize money for her mixed media work In a Drop of Water….
Fleur Brett from Victoria secured the Recycled/Reused Materials Award and $1,000 in prize money for her sculpture Yellow Torso (The Muse), made from recycled cardboard and clothing.
The 2024 judging panel comprised curator Sheona White, contemporary Australian multidisciplinary artist Susan O’Doherty, and local sculptor Ulric Steiner.
The 2024 Remagine Art Prize finalist exhibition is on view at Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, Hornsby NSW 2077, until 26 May 2024.