Jennifer Pittorino
The winners of the 2023 Footscray Art Prize have been announced, in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition.
The $20,000 main prize has been awarded to multi-disciplinary artist Roberta Joy Rich, for her multi-layered video installation entitled ‘Though Buried, They Echo’.
University of Melbourne art museum associate director Charlotte Day, said Ms Rich’s work captivated the judges.
“The success of Roberta’s work is not only the power of its subject and elements, but how she has implicated us as viewers of the work,” she said.
“… We walk over it and then are encouraged to look at what is under our feet and almost peripheral, just out of view.”
Other judges said the work successfully engages both the viewer and the institution.
Ms Rich’s work was selected from 43 finalists and more than 500 original submissions from artists across Australia as well as internationally based Australian creatives.
In addition to the $20,000 main prize, three other category prizes were awarded.
Maribyrnong council awarded the $10,000 Local Acquisition Prize to subversive needlepoint artist Jessie Deane, whose cotton thread on canvas, ‘The Big Build’, documents the West Gate Tunnel build.
Council was also impressed with the bold work ‘Salon Gâr’, awarding a runner-up Local Acquisition Prize of $5,000 to artist Ammar Yonis.
Abbra Kotlarczyk received the $2000 Residency Artist Prize for her artwork ‘Bridgehead (de) composition/Sweating the impurities’, which honours her grandfather’s enforced labours as a stonemason during WWII.
Young Artists Prizes of $500 were awarded to primary school student Grace Nguyen from Maribyrnong and secondary school student Jadyn Gregorio from Wyndham.
The biennial prize is a partnership between Victoria University, Maribyrnong council, Footscray Community Arts and the Rotary Club of Footscray.
All the works will be exhibited at Footscray Community Arts until September 17, in a site-wide takeover of the venue.
