Wakartu Cory Surprise of Fitzroy Crossing, WA is the winner of the Western Australian Indigenous Art Award of $50,000, the nation’s richest Indigenous arts prize for exceptional achievements by an Australian Indigenous finalist. Wakartu was selected from 185 nominations from across Australia. Through her masterful paintings, which are breathtaking and inspiring, Surprise tells important stories that speak of her profound understanding and awareness of her country.
Sonia Kurrara of Kurnangki, WA is the winner of the Western Australian Artist Award of $10,000. This prize is awarded for the exceptional achievements of a Western Australian Indigenous artist. Kurrara paints and repaints her country, and it’s through this technique that she reveals the beauty, vitality and spirituality of place and her immense joy of being connected to it.
Culture and Arts Minister John Day announced that the next Awards would be held in October 2011, to form an impressive international showcase for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth.
The winner of the People’s Choice Award, valued at $5,000, will be the artist with the highest number of votes from the public throughout the coming months. The winning artist will be announced 13 December 2010.
This year’s Awards exhibition includes sculpture, video, painting and photography by five artists from Western Australia and 11 artists from other parts of Australia. Glenn Iseger Pilkington, exhibition curator, commented, It features great diversity, with challengingly political works, playful childhood recollections, beautifully-textured paintings and striking depictions of country.
Exhibition Insight
Sunday 8 August at 3pm
Darren Jorgensen
Darren Jorgensen lectures in art history at the University of Western Australia. He has written extensively on Australian Indigenous art in both national and international publications. Do not miss this inspiring talk.
Exhibition Insight
Sunday 3 October at 2pm
Glenn Pilkington
Curator of this year’s Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, Glenn Pilkington, is the Associate Curator of Indigenous Objects and Photography at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Glenn will conduct a walk-through of the Awards exhibition and talk about the artists and their work.
The awards and exhibition are supported by the Government of Western Australia through the Department of Culture and the Arts. On display at the Art Gallery of Western Australia
Saturday 31 July 2010 “ Monday 3 January 2011
