Special Feature: Winners of the Art Edit Self-Represented Artist Award
The winner of this year’s Art Edit Self-represented Artist Award Ramak Bamzar serves up an expression of pain, political unrest and social struggle. Erin Irwin writes.
At Art Edit magazine, our mission since inception has been to help artists find new, appreciative audiences in the pages of this magazine and among Art Edit’s digital readership. Yet so much of the artwork that crosses our desks every day deserves still wider recognition, most particularly from curators, gallery directors and public art institutions.
This is why, in October 2020, we launched The Art Edit Self-Represented Artist Award. Now in its fourth iteration, the award has seen winning and finalist artists gain recognition from industry leaders and contemporary art collectors.
The theme for the fourth annual Art Edit Self-Represented Artist Award was ‘Tales of the Heart’. We invited all independent artists to submit works on the subjects of passion, hate, jealousy, love, loss, desire, contentment, despair, remorse, affection, betrayal and/or heartbreak.
We’re delighted to present the work of the winner of the fourth Art Edit Self-Represented Artist Award, Belinda Yee, with La Pieta, 2023. It is a tale of many hearts, a work created in response to the conflict in the Middle East, executed with communal participation and motivated by the drivers of love, despair, compassion and hope.
The judges also highly commended artists Anjella Roessler for her photograph The Rose, 2022; Hannah Schickedanz for her oil painting Brown Female with White Ruff, 2023; Isabell Heiss for her multimedia work A tall distance, 2023; and Kim Percy for her digital photograph Future Vision, 2023.
And finally, special commendation were also awarded to the following artists: Amanda Moore, Annemieke Mulders, Christine Goerner, Darren McDonald, Jeana Castelli, Joanna Brown, Martin Baptist, Paivi Kaukomaa, Stef Harris and Tracey Jones.
2024 JUDGING PANEL
Daniel Browning
Since majoring in painting at university, Daniel has worked as a journalist, broadcaster, and sound artist. He has been with the ABC since 1994, having worked across news and current affairs, including a stint as Triple J’s news director. The Bundjalung and Kullilli man presented RN’s Awaye! for many years and leads the ABC’s Indigenous Radio Unit. He currently hosts RN’s The Art Show. Image courtesy Magabala Books, photography by Rhett Hammerton.
Kitty Clark
Kitty Clark is the Founder and Curator at Saint Cloche Gallery, a contemporary art gallery and concept space in Sydney’s Paddington. St Cloche supports the work of established artists, whilst also providing a nurturing platform to champion fresh talent and present their ideas to the world. Kitty also provides a personal residential and corporate art consultancy service, working closely with many interior designers and directly with clients.
Kym Elphinstone
Arts advisor and advocate Kym Elphinstone brings more than 20 years experience working in the contemporary visual arts within Australia and globally. A former lawyer, Kym is the founder of Australia’s leading cultural agency Articulate and arts content agency The Golden Mean. Over the past 15 years, at the helm of these agencies, Kym has championed the work of thousands of artists, advising on major museum and commercial gallery exhibitions, as well as arts festivals, art foundations and biennales throughout Australia and around the world. Kym is a current board director of Firstdraft and sits on the advisory council for the Sydney Contemporary art fair.
Brett Mickan
With more than 30 years’ experience in the design field, Brett Mickan has vast and style-informing experience across the multifaceted aspects of design including film, theatre, exhibitions, yacht interiors, commercial and residential interiors. Known for his use of colour, and signature infusion of art and beautiful vintage finds, no two projects are the same. It brings Brett the greatest pleasure to marry contemporary families with period architecture in a way that is aesthetically beautiful, liveable, functional and original.
Cora-Allan
Cora-Allan is a multidisciplinary artist of Māori and Niue descent, originally from Waitakere. In recent years her practice has focused on her efforts to revive the art form of Hiapo. Prior to this she completed her Masters in Visual Art and Design in Performance from AUT (2013), also receiving a AUT Postgraduate Deans award for her research. She has exhibited her work throughout Aotearoa and internationally including Australia, Niue, England and Canada.
