Gold Coast photography prize goes nuclear
It’s a sign of the times that the winning work in the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award exhibition at HOTA Gallery on the Gold Coast focuses on the global impact of the nuclear era.
It seems only fitting that the winner of Australia’s richest acquisitive photographic art prize has been won by a work with a nuclear theme.
Nuclear – it’s all the rage, right? Or not, depending on your point of view.
Sydney visual artist Merilyn Fairskye has won the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, which returns to HOTA Gallery on the Gold Coast to celebrate Australian contemporary photographers.
Her work, Focus infinity III (4.47am, 11 May 2024, Maralinga village), claimed the coveted first prize of $25,000. It’s based on the global impact of the nuclear era and focuses on nuclear testing at Maralinga Village. Talk about timely, as this work offers a reality check for those who think nuclear power is without risks.
Guest judge Chris Saines, director of QAGOMA, says the winning work is a cautionary tale: “The spectacular pre-dawn cloudscape that looms over a charged and freighted landscape in Merilyn Fairskye’s Focus infinity III (4.47am, 11 May 2024, Maralinga village) summons the memory of the nuclear clouds that once loomed over this country,” Saines says. “This work functions at multiple levels, engaging the viewer in a bigger story than its otherwise ordinary subject.
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“At one level, it succeeds as a striking large-format colour- and light-saturated image of an Outback campsite, but at another it is inevitably joined to the history of this place, a moving reminder of what occurred here – the highly consequential impacts on the land and people of Maralinga that followed from nuclear testing. The powerful events of 70 years ago, events that prompted these travellers to stay over in Maralinga Village and to rise early for their soon-to-depart nuclear tour, still seem to reverberate across the morning sky.”
In her artist statement Merilyn Fairskye described the work as part of the ongoing Long Life Project (longlifeproject.com) that looks at the world through a nuclear lens. Her current work is focused on Australia and its looming nuclear future:
“On a recent visit to Maralinga, site of British nuclear tests in the ’50s and ’60s, I wanted to see what would be revealed if I photographed in darkness,” she says. “I headed out into the village surrounds with my camera and tripod at 4.30am. The sky was speckled with stars. A pack of dingoes called to each other nearby.”
Over the past 40 years, Fairskye’s art has been exhibited nationally and internationally in more than 175 solo and group exhibitions. Her practice traces the cultural, political and scientific webs that connect powerful events of real life, and encompasses a broad range of media and methods – from public artworks to video installations, artist films and photo media. Her ongoing art project Long Life, begun in 2009, looks at the world through the lens of the post-Cold War nuclear age. Since 2009 she has visited nuclear sites in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, US, UK and Australia.
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There are 32 finalists in the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, now showing at HOTA Gallery. Highly commended artworks included Kaye Foster with Sylvan Codex 2022, Michelle Wine with the invisible (post-viral) selfie II) and Tom Blachford with Kaufman’s Mistress (Arrival).
The award has served as a significant platform for photographic artists, enhancing the national profile of photographic art since the award’s inception in 2002 in honour of the philanthropy of lifelong art supporter Win Schubert.
The exhibition reflects contemporary practices that explore a variety of themes and approaches and showcases the vibrant evolution of photography as a dynamic medium.
Visitors to the free exhibition have the opportunity to vote for their favourite artwork and contribute to the People’s Choice Award by scanning a QR code on exiting. The winning artist for the People’s Choice Award will be announced on May 14 and will receive a prize of $5000 along with a $450 dining experience at the two-hatted Palette restaurant at HOTA Gallery.
HOTA Gallery director Susi Muddiman says the award “reaffirms our commitment to supporting the arts and providing a space for powerful storytelling through photography”.
“This year’s winner reflects the calibre of all the finalists’ works, and we’re thrilled to celebrate their exceptional achievements,” Muddiman says.
Since the inception of the award, HOTA has acquired more than 60 works, resulting in a celebrated City Collection that reflects changes in the cultural and social landscape over two decades. Following the exhibition, HOTA Gallery will have the opportunity to acquire works for its collection.
Previous winners of the award include wani toaishara, Tamara Dean, Shaun Gladwell, Darren Sylvester, Lynne Roberts-Goodwin, Polixeni Papapetrou, Polly Borland and Cherine Fahd.
Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award exhibition continues until May 11, HOTA Gallery, Surfers Paradise. Free admission; hota.com.au