Acquisitional Major Prize

Tanya van Irsen | Vestige

Artist Statement

This work arises from Kookynie’s red dust, where forgotten tin lids and charcoal fragments act as vessels of memory. Through frottage, each object becomes an excavation site: rusted textures surface as evidence of labour, endurance, and the quiet histories shaped by gold mining life. Charcoal gathered from old campfire sites carries the atmosphere of shared nights and survival. The resulting impressions form map-like or constellation-like traces, evoking how people navigated isolation and uncertainty. Rooted in a non-sentimental nostalgia, the work resurfaces histories embedded in ordinary objects, allowing the land’s textures and stories to emerge through slow, tactile processes.

Judges Comments

This delicate work provides an unexpected perspective of landscape, by documenting the human traces left upon it. While relating a personal story, it leads the viewer on a contemplative journey in consideration of our universal relationship to the land. It is highly relatable due to the artist’s process – the simple action of rubbing that we all engaged in as children - and as an installation it forms a visually compelling mini landscape of its own.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Artist

M. Ellen Burns | Native Hop Bush (Dodonaea viscosa)

Artist Statement

I first noticed this plant while walking my dogs on the hill near my home, and was drawn to its scent when it was raining. I began bringing cuttings home and noticed they release the same scent indoors when the clothes dryer raises the humidity. I'm fascinated by the plant, the variations in its form, and have since learned that it has the ability to affect the growth of other plants around it through the resin produced by its leaves. This still life comes from spending time looking closely at something I find quietly beautiful and strange, and wanting to share that fascination.

Judges Comments

This photographic work engages the senses and the imagination. Relating an intimate, personal journey with a particular element from the ecosystem, the viewer can really smell, feel and taste the subject matter.

First Nations Award

WA Artist | Dancing With The Fire

Artist Statement

LThis tells a story about Alkurwarri and the Mamus. Windaroo lived with his grandmother Alkurwarri and his grandfather Kambana. One day Windaroo set fire to his grandparents' Wiltja (humpy) and burnt his grandfather and ran away. He turned into wind and built a bridge to the stars and waited. Alkurwarri returned from hunting and found her husband Kambana killed by their grandson. Alkurwarri struck the ground with her hitting stick and woke the spirits. There were thousands and she ordered the spirits to kill Windaroo. When the spirits saw Windaroo hiding among the stars they saw the bridge and started to climb but Windaroo shook the bridge and the Mamus fell back to Earth.

Judges Comments

This arresting canvas presents a mesmerising depiction of expansive personal, culturally-informed understandings of reality.

Works on Paper Award

Big K | Tuesday Night

Artist Statement

Drawn from an accidental photograph taken in a sharehouse kitchen - before we realised we were at the beginning of something that would change both our lives. At the time, it was just another carefree night at home with friends. In hindsight, it marks the beginning of a story that has shaped my life in ways I could never have imagined. At just 9x11cms, the drawing mirrors the idea that life’s biggest moments are often hidden inside its smallest ones. This work is part of my ongoing exploration of big K Moments - small, everyday scenes that quietly shape our lives.

Judges Comments

This diminutive but impeccably rendered work acts as a portal into someone’s life story, resulting in a deeply personal, but also relatable image.

Painting Award

Miriam Can Nieto | Uprooted

Artist Statement

This painting explores the relationship between what is visible and what remains unseen. While the canopy reaches outward into light and space, the roots spread below, carrying memory, nourishment and resilience. Inspired by the hidden systems that support growth, the work reflects on belonging, migration and the connections that shape us over time. Like roots beneath the earth, our histories often remain invisible, yet they continue to influence who we become and how we find our place in the world.

Judges Comments

In an award with so many strong contenders for ‘best painting’, the judges were impressed by this small, unassuming work which nonetheless evoked such a deep somatic response in its depiction of a universal symbol.

Photography Award

Scott Fisher | Transients

Artist Comment

Motion and a long exposure can transform solids into liquids, and turn a tree into a flock of birds that might have used its branches before its leaves were burnt off and it was charred black by the bushfire. The ephemeral nature of the Western Australian bush is obvious when travelling through the country. Opportunist species take advantage after fire but disappear again as ecosystems re-establish. Photography provides me a way to see the patterns that motion and time create as I move along the highway. A single, deliberate exposure taken at dusk while travelling the Ravy to Jerry road.

Judges Comments

The work makes innovative use of the photographic medium and takes a wonderfully poetic approach to landscape, transforming a burnt tree into the flock of birds that may have once taken refuge in its branches.

3D Works Award

Juliet Tang | Iron and Lace Jugs II

Artist Statement

These ‘Jugs’ are a portrait of motherhood and the female identity. It showcases the cultural assignment and adaptability of the Outback Australian woman. The tough weather-worn iron aesthetic and the traditional lace embellishment speak of her cultural heritage, beauty and the dissipation of youth. Red iron oxide clay is laminated on to the metal mesh frame, much like skin and muscle over the human skeleton. As the sun gives life yet scorches the earth; the heat from the kiln vitrifies the clay jugs whilst distorting and disintegrating part of its structure.

Judges Comments

The judges were captivated by the artist’s unique process, and the work’s concept relating to motherhood and female identity.

Mixed Media and Textile Award

Jenelle Basten | Lightning Locket

Artist Statement

Just as a sun sets, so does the end of my time as the centre of your world. As you move further from me and closer to the budding promise of your own life, I find myself savouring all those over-the-shoulder smirks, silly laughs and stolen Hard Solos. It is a season where my heart swells and aches at the same time. This piece honours the beauty, pride and quiet grief that accompanies watching you, my only child, become your own person.

Judges Comment

This striking and intimate work displays impressive skill in its use of a laborious and highly technical medium to relate a poignant personal narrative.

Young Artist Award

Hamish Darvienza | The Long Path

Artist Statement

This painting is inspired by the Bald Head walk I did whilst on holiday in Western Australia. Walking along the narrow ridge between two seas, one was windy and wild and one calm turquoise. Standing at the top looking down that long path with the stairs cutting through the bush, I knew I wanted to paint it. It is a spot that still feels remote even with a track built through it.

Judges Comments

The judges were impressed by the highly skilled execution by a young artist. The work evocatively captures the environmental conditions of the Albany coastline.