Meet the 2026 Art Prize Judges

Jack Collard

Jack is a young and proud Whadjuk-Ballardong Nyoongar man from Boorloo (Perth).

In 2018 he was awarded a MADALAH tertiary scholarship to study at the University of Western Australia where he is majoring in Political Sciences, International Relations and Indonesian Studies for his Bachelor of Arts. In 2018 Jack had the opportunity to intern for Professor Megan Davis (Professor of Law and PVC Indigenous UNSW) at the United Nations Expert Mechanisms on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNEMRIP) in Geneva.

Through the New Colombo Plan Scholarship Program he has also studied in the Indo-Pacific region, at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and has interned at various NGOs in Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Japan and Timor Leste.

At COP27 last November he opened the first Local Community and Indigenous Peoples Platform round table and addressed the table in the Nyoongar language. Through his studies and experience Jack is working to become more involved in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in the future so that he can continue to learn from and contribute to First Nations peoples around the world.

Jack is also an accomplished traditional dancer.

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Andrew Nicholls

Andrew Nicholls is an artist, writer, and curator based in Boorloo/Perth.

His work explores how power has been expressed through aesthetics over the past two thousand years of Western history and traces the historical recurrence (and cultural appropriation) of archetypes and decorative motifs. Though primarily drawing-based, his practice also incorporates ceramics, photography, installation, performance/ritual and filmmaking.

He has exhibited and undertaken residencies in Australia, Canada, China, England, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Singapore and the United States, and his work is represented in collections including Artbank, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the City of Perth and the Kedumba Collection of Australian Drawings, among others.

In addition to his art practice, he works as a curator, arts writer and consultant, which has involved extensive collaboration with artists based across regional and remote Western Australia. He is Chairman of Gotham Studios, Western Australia’s longest-running artist-run-initiative, and his work is represented by Art Collective WA and .M Contemporary, Sydney.

Photograph by Rita Taylor c/o Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

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Fi Wilkie

Fi has formal training in Art and Design (Curtin University) and History of Art (UWA). In addition, she has pursued further studies at TAFE in Printmaking, Painting and Drawing. She is a multi-skilled artist who works across a variety of mediums. A Founding Artist of Margaret River Open Studio, this is Fi's 13th years taking part in the Event in September. She’s been awarded lifetime membership for her 8 years on the board. 

Living in Margaret River in the southwest of WA for over 30 years, its landscape, flora and fauna and the stories that exist within it, inspire her work daily and fulltime practice. Her work can be found in the private and public spaces of the Busselton, Hilton Hotel and Kings Park Cafe Botanical at Fraser’s Restaurant in Perth.

She is represented in private collections across Australia and internationally and her work is often used to inspire art education in primary and secondary schools.

Fi would describe herself as a painter, maker and illustrator and teacher, offering regular workshops and community engagement projects for schools and Shires, alongside her Travelling Illustration Exhibition - Wander Out Yonder. She is a passionate advocate for the visual arts, regional communities, endangered fauna, natural landscapes and the creative arts and enjoys art education, public speaking and facilitating more understanding for those outside the arts.