Artist Gerwyn Davies’ portrait Replica has won the $20,000 overall prize for the 2023 Olive Cotton Award.
The announcement was made in an official opening and presentation ceremony at Tweed Regional Gallery, Murwillumbah on Saturday night (15 July).
The ceremony was attended by many of this year’s finalists who travelled from across the country to join in the celebrations. The event was also livestreamed for those who could not attend.
Davies’ Replica was selected as the winning portrait from a field of 72 finalists, including emerging and established photographers from around Australia. Davies is the 12th artist to win the Award, which was first presented in 2005.
The Award was judged by artist, curator and critic Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham. Dr Mudie Cunningham visited the Gallery on Friday 14 July to view all works installed before making his final decision.
Dr Mudie Cunningham noted “hiding is not something we associate with portraiture. A conventional portrait requires a subject’s presence and disclosure to connect with the world”.
“Gerwyn Davies is keenly aware that revelation is central to portraiture and photography, and in Replica he engages with queer visibility politics to interrogate what it means to be seen and unseen, to appear and disappear. Camouflaged within an inventive tableau made from costuming, props, and partially harnessing new AI technologies, he creates a clever and joyous image that speaks to art history and narratives of place and time, with conceptual and aesthetic rigour”.
Dr Mudie Cunningham also Highly Commended Vedika Rampal’s My mother dreams of Ghalib and Meng-Yu Yan’s Another Ruin VI.
Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre Inc., Ferne Millen’s No Labels Required, a portrait of Dr Todd Fernando, was acquired for the Gallery’s collection, with Director Susi Muddiman OAM awarding it the 2023 Director’s Choice.
Ms Muddiman said “This work grabbed my attention. The composition and narrative is strong. In creating a photo shoot for her portrait, Ferne frames a sense of potent, positive change. This is a portrait of a proud subject, within a portrait of our society on the brink of hopeful change”.
Ms Muddiman also singled out the following works as deserving special attention: Stephen Dupont’s You should take it this way! 2022: A portrait of David Field; Dane Beesley’s Home; Vedika Rampal’s My mother dreams of Ghalib, Matthew Thorne’s Warren Ellis in his garden in Paris 2022, Jaka Adamic’s Chaos / Portrait of Toby, Riste Andrievski’s William Yang, Andrea Francolini’s I am what I am, and Gary Grealy’s Jude Rae_Artist.
Visitors to the Olive Cotton Award exhibition can cast their own vote in the People’s Choice Award. The finalist with the most votes will receive $500.
The exhibition will run until Sunday 24 September 2021. The Gallery is open Wednesdays to Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm (closed Mondays and Tuesdays). Entry to view the exhibition is free.
A full list of finalists is available on the Gallery’s website at https://artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au/PrizesAndAwards/OliveCotton.
A strong showing of more than 600 entries were received this year for the biennial award, which is funded by Olive Cotton’s family and dedicated to her memory as one of Australia’s leading 20th Century photographers.
