The Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA) is an annual visual arts prize and exhibition for established and emerging artists living in regional and remote Queensland. The program aims to provide a platform for further professional development.
Expressions of Interest are now open for State of Diversity touring exhibition in 2020 – 2021. Scroll down for further details.
The Queensland Regional Art Awards is open to all Queensland artists living outside of the Brisbane City Council area. Eg, artists in neighbouring city council areas such as Logan, Ipswich, Somerset, Moreton Bay and Redland City are all eligible to enter.
Only one category requires entrants to live further afield – the ‘Remote Artist’ category (please see below).
2019 Theme: State of Diversity
Queensland is a state full of diverse ecosystems, wildlife, places, people and personalities. This year, artists were encouraged to explore the diverse elements and qualities that make up their own communities and locations within Queensland.
The theme was to be addressed in an accompanying artist statement of 100 – 150 words.
You can also View the print entry form and View Full Eligibility and Entry Requirements
No Events
2019 Judging Panel
Jonathan McBurnie – Creative Director, Galleries, Townsville City Council
Peter McKay – Curatorial Manager, Australian Art – QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY | GALLERY OF MODERN ART
Robyn Daw – Creative Industries Program Leader, Logan City Council
You can also View the print entry form for this year’s competition.
2019 Winning Artworks
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Resource Removal (view detail)
Artist: Rose Rigley and Pamela Kusabs
Artist Location: WHITFIELD
Medium: Sculptural assemblage (paper, mixed media, copper wire), 2019
Dimensions: 14 x 68 x 12 cm
Artist Statement:
The artist considered the theme ‘State of Diversity’ both geographically and psychologically. The resulting artwork was an exchange between two different individuals, with empathy, trust and an understanding of another’s location, the key to the collaborative outcome. Destruction or preservation became an integral part of creation, as each artist contributed to the beginning or end of the structure. Strategies of how to respond to ‘the object’, to letting go of concrete connections to place, and to the production of a’cohesive’ visual language were explored in the undertaking. Collaboration – a quite wonderful and intriguing process – has, at its foundation, the ideas of diversity and compassion. Resource Removal focuses on the environment and the impact of human inhabitation.
Photographer: Michael Marzik
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Too much, too little, we are all at the mercy of water.
Artist: Emma Ward
Artist Location: GRACEMERE
Medium: Graphite, chalk, watercolour and ink on watercolour paper, 2018
Dimensions: 38.5 x 57 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Inspired by a recent walk through the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens I discovered a path that winds closer to the road, there is a fence covered in ‘flood weeds’ a regional term for plants that have been uprooted and deposited as the flood waters carry debris which gets caught in the barbed wire fences. A poignant discovery, as the last flash flood was in 2017 and these remarkable waterlily remains were still clinging happily to the fence! In my mind, they were an example of the diverse and difficult nature of our landscape. As we constantly rotate through extreme changes in our weather conditions, experiencing years of drought, then bushfires, to extreme flash flooding, the landscape itself has adapted to take on the same personality as it’s people; tough and tenacious, we are all at the mercy of land in which we live, we ebb and flow depending on the weather.
Photographer: Emma Ward
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DREHAMPTON
Artist: Dre Adams
Artist Location: PORT CURTIS
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 30 x 90 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
I tend to think there is more going on around us every day than meets the eye and a place is different for the d people there, all travelling on their own paths. This curious layering of the human experience in my own community intrigues me. Drehampton was made in response to my own journey through the town in which I have grown up. My work is mischievous and critical of human activity because so much of it is ridiculous, ludicrous and violent. I wish the human race could put behind it all the irrational that causes so much conflict and instead seek a connection to our land and each other. I think it’s about time that all that garbage went in the dustbin of history and we transform our consciousness into something a little more decent or respectful.
Photographer: JAELENE DURRAND
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Organic Organisms (view video)
Artist: Lillian Whitaker
Artist Location: NORTH MALENY
Medium: 1920x1080p MP4 (video and audio), 2019
Dimensions: variable
Artist Statement:
“Organic Organisms” (2019) investigates both visual and audible components of Queensland’s vast ecological biodiversity. The primary object (an obscure basalt rock made from clay and expandable foam) possesses a black-green tinge reminiscent of cyanobacteria and is enveloped by moving images of detailed organic shapes which appear microscopic in appearance. These illustrations explore diverse, intricate patterns observed throughout Queensland’s mystifying terrain and draw inspiration from rock crevasses, waterways, Chlorophyceae (green algae), moss, polypores fungi and bark. The work’s accompanying soundscape comprises field recordings which capture the vast array of natural sounds that Queensland has to offer. From bird calls to waterfalls, this soundtrack contributes a diverse stereo image of Queensland’s ambient noises and alongside synthesised elements provides an overall serenity. About the process: A series of ink drawings, photographed and rendered into a video, projected onto an expandable foam and clay sculpture with accompanying field-recording and synthesised sound composition.
Photographer: Lillian Whitaker
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Maramaka
Artist: Madge Bowen
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen print on linen, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
I always like to paint my traditional homeland of Bulgan (Kings Plain). I feel a deep spiritual connection to my land, and the sacred sites on it, including the plants and the animals. Maramaka is a kind of fig tree that grows in Far North Queensland, and there are lots of them on my homeland. I love to paint them, because even though my family no longer live my land, when I see one, I feel that deep connection to Bulgan.
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
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K’Gari
Artist: Caitlin Broderick
Artist Location: TOOWOOMBA
Medium: Acrylic on stretched canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61.5 x 91.5 x 3.7 cm
Artist Statement:
K’gari (Fraser Island) is Queensland’s largest sand island. Unlike many other sand dunes, the mycorrhizal fungi that is present in the sand has enabled the establishment of rainforests, eucalyptus woodlands, and mangrove forests. The island has around 100 lakes, and is the whale-watching capital of the world. With sand banks that stretch over 120km, deserted beaches, Indigenous and colonisation history, dingos, 4WD, and the iconic landmark of the Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island has a wealth of natural and historical attractions, making it one of the most diverse places in Queensland. Travelling down the western coast lies one tree that has planted its roots on the high-tide line, growing tall and strong above the cascading waves and fading tire tracks of passer-byers. The serenity of this scenery encapsulates the beauty that Fraser Island while the tire tracks symbolise the tourism that has been brought to the island because of its diversity.
Photographer: Caitlin June Broderick
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Embracing Azariah
Artist: Catherine Boreham
Artist Location: YEPPOON
Medium: Oil painting on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 61 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
I believe that painting portraits gives me a great opportunity to encourage the viewer to move beyond simple tolerance and really see each individual as unique and valuable. I aim to inspire the viewer to celebrate the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each person they behold on the canvas. One of Azariah’s favorite verses says, “Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” With an attitude such as Azariah’s our differences wether they be gender, ethnicity, socio economic circumstances or religious beliefs would certainly be explored in a safe, positive and nurturing environment. Azariah was very encouraged that I took the time to paint his portrait. Our states of diversity should be celebrated and this portrait is just one example of how I love to use artwork in a positive way to uplift others.
Photographer: Catherine Boreham
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and will the blue skies go on forever? (view detail)
Artist: Barbara Stephenson
Artist Location: TOOWOOMBA
Medium: Textiles – quillie standing wool rug, 2019
Dimensions: 47 x 66 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
In a world drowning in waste, I use rejected woollen blankets to create art. Woollen fabric is often discarded for modern materials made of micro-fibres which harm many creatures. And as our country heats up the need for cosy wool decreases. Layers of colour strips are coiled and twisted. I love the way different combinations create new colours but remain harmonious. My piece celebrates the diversity of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs with its endless blue skies and clouds so close it seems you could touch them. We have rainforest in the Bunya Mountains and Eucalypt scrub on the Range, with farming on the rolling plains in between. The looming world climate crisis challenges the diversity of human and natural resources. Hopefully between us, we will find a sustainable balance. But will the blue skies go on forever? Now is the time to put Blue Sky thinking into action.
Photographer: Brian Kenny
Resource Removal, Rose Rigley with Pamela Kusabs (Whitfield) – The Holding Redlich ‘Art for Life’ Award, thanks to Holding Redlich – $10,000 cash, non-acquisitive
Too much, too little, we are all at the mercy of water, Emma Ward (Gracemere) – The Annie Tan Memorial Watercolour Award, thanks to The Booth Memorial Fund of Annie Tan (Yuh Siew) and the Geoff Booth Foundation – $3,000 cash, non-acquisitive
DREHAMPTON, Dre Adams (Rockhampton) – Betty Crombie Young Artist Development Award, thanks to David Crombie – $2,000 cash, non-acquisitive
and will the blue skies go on forever?, Barbara Stephenson (Toowoomba) – Textile Art Award, thanks to Janet de Boer and Art for Life donor – $1,500 cash, non-acquisitive
Organic Organisms, Lillian Whittaker (North Maleny) – Digital Art Award, thanks to State Library of Queensland – The Edge, Art Series – The Johnson and Flying Arts – Fully funded one-week residency at The Edge, SLQ including 7 nights accommodation at The Johnson, valued at $4,000
Maramaka, Madge Bowen (Hope Vale) – Remote Artist Award, brought to you by USQ Artsworx – Fully funded one-week residency at McGregor Summer School (Jan 2019) valued at $2,500
Embracing Azariah, Catherine Boreham (Yeppoon) – People’s Choice Award (Adult), thanks to Ironlak Art and Design – $1250 Ironlak art materials voucher
K’GARI, Caitlin Broderick (Toowoomba) – People’s Choice Award (Youth), thanks to Ironlak Art and Design – $750 Ironlak art materials voucher
State of Diversity Touring Exhibition
Expressions of Interest are now open for State of Diversity. See the Tour Specifications.
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Resource Removal (view detail)
Artist: Rose Rigley and Pamela Kusabs
Artist Location: WHITFIELD
Medium: Sculptural assemblage (paper, mixed media, copper wire), 2019
Dimensions: 14 x 68 x 12 cm
Artist Statement:
The artist considered the theme ‘State of Diversity’ both geographically and psychologically. The resulting artwork was an exchange between two different individuals, with empathy, trust and an understanding of another’s location, the key to the collaborative outcome. Destruction or preservation became an integral part of creation, as each artist contributed to the beginning or end of the structure. Strategies of how to respond to ‘the object’, to letting go of concrete connections to place, and to the production of a’cohesive’ visual language were explored in the undertaking. Collaboration – a quite wonderful and intriguing process – has, at its foundation, the ideas of diversity and compassion. Resource Removal focuses on the environment and the impact of human inhabitation.
Photographer: Michael Marzik
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Organic Organisms (view video)
Artist: Lillian Whitaker
Artist Location: NORTH MALENY
Medium: 1920x1080p MP4 (video and audio), 2019
Dimensions: variable
Artist Statement:
“Organic Organisms” (2019) investigates both visual and audible components of Queensland’s vast ecological biodiversity. The primary object (an obscure basalt rock made from clay and expandable foam) possesses a black-green tinge reminiscent of cyanobacteria and is enveloped by moving images of detailed organic shapes which appear microscopic in appearance. These illustrations explore diverse, intricate patterns observed throughout Queensland’s mystifying terrain and draw inspiration from rock crevasses, waterways, Chlorophyceae (green algae), moss, polypores fungi and bark. The work’s accompanying soundscape comprises field recordings which capture the vast array of natural sounds that Queensland has to offer. From bird calls to waterfalls, this soundtrack contributes a diverse stereo image of Queensland’s ambient noises and alongside synthesised elements provides an overall serenity. About the process: A series of ink drawings, photographed and rendered into a video, projected onto an expandable foam and clay sculpture with accompanying field-recording and synthesised sound composition.
Photographer: Lillian Whitaker
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Determination
Artist: Grant Quinn
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Photography, 2019
Dimensions: 55 x 55 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Nothing shows more diversity than man-made and natural environments. The diverse elements of the two sometimes collide to make up the environment and communities that we live in. As cities and towns slowly spread out its urbanisation we are losing our beautiful and diverse flora and fauna. However, in some cases, our flora and fauna adjusts and evolves to survive in man-made environments. In this image I have capture a Fig Tree with its roots desperately clinging to the side of a brick wall. It is determined to survive in this cold hard eco system. The sprawling roots, twisted branches and minimalist leaves combined with the painted brick wall and cement edging create a stunning picture telling a story of determination and a will to survive against all odds.
Photographer: Grant Quinn
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and will the blue skies go on forever? (view detail)
Artist: Barbara Stephenson
Artist Location: TOOWOOMBA
Medium: Textiles – quillie standing wool rug, 2019
Dimensions: 47 x 66 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
In a world drowning in waste, I use rejected woollen blankets to create art. Woollen fabric is often discarded for modern materials made of micro-fibres which harm many creatures. And as our country heats up the need for cosy wool decreases. Layers of colour strips are coiled and twisted. I love the way different combinations create new colours but remain harmonious. My piece celebrates the diversity of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs with its endless blue skies and clouds so close it seems you could touch them. We have rainforest in the Bunya Mountains and Eucalypt scrub on the Range, with farming on the rolling plains in between. The looming world climate crisis challenges the diversity of human and natural resources. Hopefully between us, we will find a sustainable balance. But will the blue skies go on forever? Now is the time to put Blue Sky thinking into action.
Photographer: Brian Kenny
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Their Story, My Story (view video)
Artist: Belinda McGrath
Artist Location: ROCKHAMPTON
Medium: Carbon paper monoprint animation, 2019
Dimensions: 0 x 0 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Their story, My Story is the account of how my grandparents met. My grandmother was the daughter of a Scottish illegal immigrant who served in the British Army in WW1, and for Australia in WW2. In her early years she lived with her parents in a tent in a small Queensland town called The Willows. When times were more financially stable, they moved to a house in North Rockhampton- next to a train line. In 1942 my grandfather, the son of an English immigrant mother whose bank book listed her occupation as ‘married’ and listed no financial transactions, just recipes, travelled by train to his training after his enlistment in the Australian Army. As the troops were transported by rail, the nearby residents would throw them books to occupy them on their journey. My grandmother threw in a book with her name and address inside, my grandfather caught it.
Photographer: Belinda McGrath
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Too much, too little, we are all at the mercy of water.
Artist: Emma Ward
Artist Location: GRACEMERE
Medium: Graphite, chalk, watercolour and ink on watercolour paper, 2018
Dimensions: 38.5 x 57 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Inspired by a recent walk through the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens I discovered a path that winds closer to the road, there is a fence covered in ‘flood weeds’ a regional term for plants that have been uprooted and deposited as the flood waters carry debris which gets caught in the barbed wire fences. A poignant discovery, as the last flash flood was in 2017 and these remarkable waterlily remains were still clinging happily to the fence! In my mind, they were an example of the diverse and difficult nature of our landscape. As we constantly rotate through extreme changes in our weather conditions, experiencing years of drought, then bushfires, to extreme flash flooding, the landscape itself has adapted to take on the same personality as it’s people; tough and tenacious, we are all at the mercy of land in which we live, we ebb and flow depending on the weather.
Photographer: Emma Ward
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BFF
Artist: Craig James
Artist Location: GLADSTONE
Medium: Digital pigment photograph on Chromajet Centurion Metallic Pearl Photo Paper, 2019
Dimensions: 89 x 61 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
My Gladstone based arts practice explores a close human-animal and technological relationship between a service/assistance dog named Ruby and myself. Diversity has reached into every facet of our lives as we learn how to care for each other in unusual circumstances. Examples of this human-animal and technological relationship include Ruby adopting digital strategies to stream her own YouTube clips or partake in video calls, support networks that are contactable 24/7, an online university degree, robotic surgery, medical appointments using Skype, the list is endless. Instead of isolating us from the Central Queensland Region, a diverse digital realm has allowed us to slowly but surely begin to connect with others, not only locally but throughout the entire state. “Best Friends Forever” (BFF) offers not a dysfunctional life but one that is enriched by thinking outside the box – we both have embraced diversity and found a contemporary way of wellbeing. WOOF!
Photographer: Craig James
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Representing Fieldwork (no. 1) (view video)
Artist: Alinta Krauth
Artist Location: WITHEREN
Medium: Digital animation, 2018
Dimensions: Variable
Artist Statement:
This digital video artwork represents a culmination of research performed by the artist into how climate change is impacting the diversity of animal life on our planet. Taking a wide series of examples, from wild horses in New Zealand, to bats in Germany, to Alpine Lizards, the artist explored how scientists are recording and analysing the reduction of diversity of nonhuman life due to climate change. In order to create this video, the artist has made over 1000 hand-drawn images that represent this diversity of life and the struggles they are having. These images were then fed into a digital generative system. What results is a collaborative cacophony between artist and computer that hints at the confusion and struggle that our nonhuman kin face in an era of human monodominance.
Photographer: Alinta Krauth
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Host i
Artist: Donna Davis
Artist Location: DEEBING HEIGHTS
Medium: Pigment print onto fine art rag, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 40 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
This work plays with the idea of the biological host; exploring the complex relationship between human and nature with respect to maintaining our ecological diversity. Here the floral emblem of my home-town Ipswich, the ‘Plunkett mallee’ simultaneously presents an image of hope and despair; inviting the viewer to question their own ecological truth. Plants are intrinsic to the health of our planet, yet one-in-five plant species are vulnerable to extinction. By losing plants from their natural environment we are adversely affecting the state of diversity, upsetting the natural balance for all dependent organisms. Not only are plants key players in helping mitigate the climate crisis but they are also working, under stressful conditions, to provide habitat, food and oxygen; supporting multi-species diversity, including the human. Which leads me to ask, what is our role? What type of Host are we to our local diversity?
Photographer: donna davis
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Crazy weather we’ve been having
Artist: Nora Hanasy
Artist Location: ZIZLIE
Medium: Digital collage, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Central Queensland is a land of constant change. One thing that really makes this place I call home extra unique is the weather.’Crazy weather we’ve been having’ is a phrase we use often here as a greeting. It binds all of us together. The heat of summer comes with cyclones and floods and when we are not under water the land is arid and dry with blackened trees as far as the eye can see. The winter fog turns everything eerie and white and the short but severe storms that come out of nowhere definitely get the blood pumping. These extreme and often devastating weather patterns are the cause of our ever-changing colors and textures of the CQ landscape. But it is this diversity that makes every moment here, exciting and beautiful.
Photographer: Nora Hanasy
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Overflow IV
Artist: Michelle Black
Artist Location: ZILZIE
Medium: Unique state intaglio print. Oil-based ink on cotton rag paper, pigment pen., 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 113 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland is a state of diverse weather patterns. From droughts that cover the majority of this vast state to desert and frosts, drenching rains, tropical cyclones, and expansive floods. Rockhampton has been subjected to many major floods. After a flood, a sticky, oozing, acrid black mud remains in the low-lying areas of Rockhampton. Huge quantities of sediment are lost downstream, flowing to the ocean during times of flood. A series of unique state prints has been created using this river sediment in the printing matrix, textures and flows of mud recording environmental processes in ink. A length of the Fitzroy River is over-printed, just a small portion of the vast catchment area of the Fitzroy Basin.
Photographer: Michelle Black
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Timepiece (view video)
Artist: Bianca Tainsh
Artist Location: WEYBA DOWNS
Medium: Video, 2019
Dimensions: variable
Artist Statement:
Bianca Tainsh is a socially-engaged artist based on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. Through a process of research and reflection Bianca’s projects explore the existential and biospherical dilemmas of contemporary life, creating works in a variety of media that often invite interaction, and audience or community participation. In her video Timepiece Bianca merges the diversity of natural and human histories that weave together to create the unique and captivating cultural landscape of Lake Weyba on the Sunshine Coast. By recounting these histories, and her own experiences, Bianca hopes to inspire people to consider how their lives effect the lives of other current and future Queenslanders, and the incredible diversity of creatures who also inhabit this sacred landscape. Bianca holds a 1st Class Honours Degree from RMIT University, and studied Arts & Community Engagement at the VCA. She has exhibited in solo and group shows, and participated in international residency programs.
Photographer: Bianca Tainsh
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DREHAMPTON
Artist: Dre Adams
Artist Location: PORT CURTIS
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 30 x 90 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
I tend to think there is more going on around us every day than meets the eye and a place is different for the d people there, all travelling on their own paths. This curious layering of the human experience in my own community intrigues me. Drehampton was made in response to my own journey through the town in which I have grown up. My work is mischievous and critical of human activity because so much of it is ridiculous, ludicrous and violent. I wish the human race could put behind it all the irrational that causes so much conflict and instead seek a connection to our land and each other. I think it’s about time that all that garbage went in the dustbin of history and we transform our consciousness into something a little more decent or respectful.
Photographer: JAELENE DURRAND
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Naked Gardening 3
Artist: Emma Thorp
Artist Location: DUNDOWRAN BEACH
Medium: Acrylic and coloured pencil on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 67 x 49 x 0.2 cm
Artist Statement:
Growing up in the barren and dry western suburbs of Melbourne and uncomfortable with my own body, I never would have imagined a day when I was wondering naked in a jungle like garden. For the last 6 years I have lived just outside Hervey Bay, surrounded by old growth, thick greenery and air that just makes you want to breath deeply. My lush garden, complete with bandicoots, monitors, pythons and possums, enables me to celebrate and accept myself in this beautiful little part of Queensland. Naked gardening is an international day to celebrate gardening and the joy it brings. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but it is mine.
Photographer: Emma Thorp
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Fallen Stick #1
Artist: Julie McEnerny
Artist Location: EDGE HILL, CAIRNS
Medium: Watercolour pencil on Arches 300gsm, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 35 x 0.2 cm
Artist Statement:
Microcosms of industry, that’s what I see on finding one of my ‘sticks’. I can go weeks without yearning for another but when I do it’s always there somewhere, overloaded and fallen from high in the paperbarks. This one supports a mixed bag of companions. Along with tiny mosses, lichens and fungi there’s Dischidia, the button orchid, and holding centre stage Queensland’s own ant plant (Myrmecodia beccarii). Here’s where the diversity of life forms supported by this host gets really, symbiotically interesting! There’s a beautiful relationship going on between that spiky bulbous epiphyte, the industrious ants that live inside and a small butterfly called Apollo Jewel who allows them to take care of her eggs. Predominantly a drawer, I enjoy the direct contact between medium and ground. I choose watercolour pencil for its immediacy and all-round versatility when rendering small scale natural forms.
Photographer: Lee Middleton, Highscan
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A ‘Natural’ Fading
Artist: Hannah Varidel
Artist Location: BUSHLAND BEACH
Medium: Acrylic andgesso on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 70 x 50 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
A ‘Natural’ Fading is an abstract idealisation of the diversity of our native ecosystems and wildlife. I wanted to portray wildlife as ambiguous and relatively unidentifiable to illustrate the nature of all ecosystems. White spills over the edges of the canvas from the wall it is hung on to engulf the colourful array of leaves and flowers; just as deforestation, coral bleaching, and many other events which have rid our once vibrant ecosystems of colour.
Photographer: Hannah Varidel
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Landscape
Artist: Hannah Parker
Artist Location: HOLLOWAYS BEACH
Medium: Etching, 2019
Dimensions: 53 x 39 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
This work is a print of a series of etching plates. I am exploring how line, colour and shape tell the story of our environment. Thinking about land, sky, water and sea; our interaction and interference with our environment; and the history it created by us and by natural forces.
Photographer: Hannah Parker
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Garden Party
Artist: Kristen Flynn
Artist Location: Chinchilla
Medium: Oil on fabriano paper, 2019
Dimensions: 27 x 43 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Garden Party celebrates the women of Chinchilla. Our community hosts an array of highly educated women and mothers that help our community run at all levels. Although a regional town, women here redefine their roles just like their city-living counterparts. The three women in Garden Party are all at different stages in their life and they have all individually defined what it means to be a woman in this time and location. They flip the male gaze on its head as their female stares pierce through their floral masks- symbolising their power, presence and importance to community. The three prints were created using digital photography, solar plate and traditional intaglio printing methods. My work pays tribute to all of the wonderful women in my small community and their contributions to make this a true state of diversity.
Photographer: Kristen Flynn
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Self Portrait (view detail)
Artist: Amanda Bennetts
Artist Location: POMONA
Medium: Glass, MRI, LED and metal, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 50 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
As an Artist with Multiple Sclerosis, I have explored the diverse elements of my identity now that I live with a disabiltiy. My self-portrait is not a literal representation of myself, I am letting the viewer into my psyche, my ecosystem and allowing them to see the unseen, in a very vulnerable and personal manner. I have been stripped bare. I am unable to disconnect identity from disease and it is the slight information on the MRI’s that will show the viewer that this artwork refers to the past and present with boiling flasks bridging the two together symbolising that I have not resolved my identity crisis, I have cut it up, thought it through, rearranged it and although as the colours in the flasks are becoming clearer it is still unresolved. The sci-fi aesthetics of the artwork minismises the subject to a scientic specimen rather than a human being.
Photographer: Amanda Bennetts
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The Ladder
Artist: Tarja Ahokas
Artist Location: NINDERRY
Medium: Acrylic on 2 canvases, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 80 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
State of diversity of our climate unites us in my community as it does across the country. From extreme heat of our summers that can cause bushfires and drought to the rain events resulting in flooding and chaos. The ladder in the painting symbolises the physical and emotional support which is offered to those who need it at any given time.
Photographer: Tarja Ahokas
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Out of the Blue
Artist: Karen Stephens
Artist Location: WINTON
Medium: Acrylic on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 20 x 29 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Boulder Opal with its dominant flashes of brilliant blue, is found deep underground at Opalton near Winton Queensland. Once an inland sea, the gem has been luring diverse nationalities since the late 1800s. Boulder Opal is unique to Winton making this remote region a state of diversity. My painting is from a larger collection of recent works made in Winton about the coloured gem. I liken my practice of a landscape painter to the work of an opal miner – long hours in solitude and a belief in finding richness. There is this daily repetitive search, a type of chipping or scraping away and often I come home frustrated and empty handed. The prospect of finding wealth in this way is reflected in the eyes and words of the wider public which contain a tinge of madness. But then sometimes I strike it lucky – I am fishing for landscape.
Photographer: Karen Stephens
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Lean Out and Dance
Artist: Adrienne Williams
Artist Location: ELLIOTT HEADS
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 91.5 x 91.5 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
The northern headland of the Elliott River is my new home. This work is a conversation through markmaking about the diverse natural, cultural and elemental forces that continue to change and shape where I’m living. A perfect line of planted casuarinas perches atop red volcanic soil, underpinned by a coastline of basalt rock flung in messy patterns from an ancient volcano. Walking out to see these views each morning produces a surge of joy and disbelief within me… do I really live here? And this daily routine has bought a utopian dreamlike quality to this piece with it’s perfect line of leaning casuarinas, juxtaposed against tumbledown undergrowth and the jumble of rocky tidelines. Elliott Heads is both caressed and scarred by water and wind – literally the winds of change that will continue to extend it’s diversity well beyond my time here.
Photographer: Adrienne Williams
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Gloria Arrow
Artist: Janet Ambrose
Artist Location: SARINA
Medium: Charcoal on linen, 2019
Dimensions: 80 x 80 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
This is a portrait of Gloria Arrow who is a descendant of Natafilinga (Katie Marlla). Natafilinga was blackbirded from her island home of Oba, Vanuatu to Queensland in 1875. Katie, as she was later known, was put to work in the cane fields at age 15. I explore the human face of the South Sea Islander community, identifying and understanding the unique differences of their culture and of adaptation in the removal from their homelands and life in their new land. South Sea Islanders are part of the Australian cultural landscape. Rendered in charcoal on linen, Gloria’s portrait shows her strength and resilience which I believe has been handed down from her great grandmother’s philosophy of, “Never look back, always forward.”
Photographer: Janet Ambrose
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Belonging Through Diversity
Artist: Tharusha Dias Mendis
Artist Location: BEECHMONT
Medium: Silk stich and ink on silk, 2019
Dimensions: 38 x 107.5 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
The mystery of this mountain is too beautiful, too powerful and too inexplicable for words. This is an unassuming mountain that holds all her living beings in her dreaming. She accepts every living thing in it’s entirety, whether it’s a native, weed, farm produce, wild animal, farm animal, local, visitor or immigrant. She is the mother who holds us rooted in what is beautiful, what is true and connected to our own essence. Therefore diversity in this mountain is intentional, never insisted but a natural part of belonging. In this mountain nobody is superior, nobody is inferior and most importantly nobody is equal either. In this mountain everything is unique and incomparable hence everything contributes to their potential to life. She helps us remember our way and liberates us to be naturally wild. Her magic, mystery, whispers and secrets keeps us mountain folk forever in wonder.
Photographer: Tharusha Dias-Mendis
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Traversed
Artist: Leisl Mott
Artist Location: TOOWOOMBA
Medium: Oil on board, 2018
Dimensions: 81 x 81 x 0.5 cm
Artist Statement:
I was inspired to paint this work to capture a familiar landscape in the grips of drought. How different it seemed; the blanket of soft fodder had given way to reveal deeply etched tracks in the dirt and hurts of the past expressed as erosion and fallen limbs. All the while, the sky just watched on, painting its bright-blue self with the whitest smears of winter clouds, oblivious to the parching below. This year it is looking different again; that is the diversity, within the diversity, of our landscape.
Photographer: Cloe Veryard
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my father grew roses(Download Artivive to activate augmented reality in artwork)
Artist: Rebecca Lewis
Artist Location: EAST IPSWICH
Medium: Mixed Media, 2019
Dimensions: 29 x 21 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
“My Dad cleared most of the trees on our block, he disliked gums, they were not English. He grew one hundred and thirty five rose bushes, the postman reckoned he could smell them all the way from the corner.” Every family keeps stories. These tales are diverse and distinct to each family, they filter down through the generations, tales from every day life, tales of childhood discoveries, of loss, of small joys, of love and friendships that have all helped to shape a family but often go untold outside the family home. This piece aims to share some of these little stories from my own family history. In the creation of the work itself I have employed diverse techniques to build layers into the story, giving the piece context within my family history and more broadly in the history of South East Queensland. DOWNLOAD ARTIVIVE TO ACTIVATE THE AR ELEMENT
Photographer: Rebecca Lewis
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This Too Shall Pass
Artist: Katrin Terton
Artist Location: BLACK MOUNTAIN
Medium: Mixed Media, series of sculptural pieces on wall mounted perspex shelves, 2018
Dimensions: 60 x 70 x 18 cm
Artist Statement:
The various organic materials and found objects used for this series of 11 crown-shaped objects were all collected on the Sunshine Coast. The crown symbolises the individual sovereignty we have and the ability to take charge of the changing pathways in our lives. These materials represent the diversity of the local environment, relating to flora, fauna and human-made aspects as well as different endeavours, skills and interests of members of the community. For example: beeswax, shed snakeskin and ashes refer to the quest to protect and manage wildlife and the ecosystem; hair, fibres and book pages to creative pursuits, chillies and kombucha culture to local food artisans. The title alludes to the ephemeral nature of the materials and the evolving environmental and cultural changes and challenges. This work acknowledges the diversity of the local communities and the transience of all elements of the environment we inhabit.
Photographer: Andrew Mortimer
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Sun Harness (view detail)
Artist: Joanne Taylor
Artist Location: BARCALDINE
Medium: Paper pulp, iron oxide, cotton thread, gold leaf, paper, cotton rag paper, ink, pencil, pencil, perspex, wood, dye, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 36.5 x 14 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland is the state of diversity with its vast coastlines, open flat interior and abundant resources. But one thing that unites us all in the ‘Sunshine State’ is indeed, the sun. It’s the binding factor that makes Queensland what it is. Sunlight energises the productive heart of our state and imprints our landscape such that we all benefit. The repetition of “suns” in this sculpture represents the numerous but similar solar farms popping up in recent years in Central West Queensland, all doing their bit to power our lives and our future prosperity. Increasingly, the iconic and quintessential Queenslander home many of us have spent at least part of our lives in, is now being powered by energy harvested from the sun.
Photographer: Donna Jedras
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Fairy Tree
Artist: Helen Dennis
Artist Location: CHINCHILLA
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
On our property runs Branch Creek, which flows to the Condamine River, part of the Balonne catchment for the Murray Darling Basin. Our small creek has been a guide for Indigenous travellers visiting the Bunya Mountains, an area of vegetation and animal diversity in its wetlands, a place of lagoons where tall timbers grow, a source of irrigation for crops and domestic animals, and playground for all. For our community the creeks are the mainstay of life. Without the creeks Indigenous travellers would not have moved through and camped, farms would not have been established, the railway would not have come, and modern townships would not be sustainable. Their waters are an essential element of life. The roots of a majestic gumtree became the ‘Fairy Tree’ for our children, after a massive flood wore away its foundations, sending it tumbling across the creek and exposing its roots to the elements.
Photographer: Helen Dennis
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Victoire_Origins (view detail)
Artist: Sasi Victoire
Artist Location: Clifton Beach
Medium: Mixed media, 2018
Dimensions: 30 x 60 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
This work outlines the cultural beginnings and origins of a family as diaspora in their movement and settlement in Australia.This work is used as projections for a collaborative cross cultural performance work Alice in the Antipathies.
Photographer: Sasi Victoire
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Maramaka
Artist: Madge Bowen
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen print on linen, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
I always like to paint my traditional homeland of Bulgan (Kings Plain). I feel a deep spiritual connection to my land, and the sacred sites on it, including the plants and the animals. Maramaka is a kind of fig tree that grows in Far North Queensland, and there are lots of them on my homeland. I love to paint them, because even though my family no longer live my land, when I see one, I feel that deep connection to Bulgan.
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
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Melanin
Artist: Karri McPherson
Artist Location: Toowoomba
Medium: Acrylic on wood panel, 2019
Dimensions: 30 x 30 x 4.5 cm
Artist Statement:
When I think of diversity in Queensland, I think about our abundance of cultures. Our state is comprised of rich, cultural diversity and I believe this is one of our greatest strengths as multiplicity makes Queensland both innovative and socially vibrant.’Melanin’ is a painting that celebrates the beauty and diversity of cultures at a fundamental level. This work explores the beauty of pigment by commemorating the unique variety of ethnicities that bestow our state, aiming to reflect the wide range of cultures that make up Queensland. As our communities are occupied by people from all walks of life, ‘Melanin’ showcases how wonderfully colourful our state is and how cultural diversity allows us to continually foster new ideas, skills, traditions and customs throughout Queensland.
Photographer: Karri McPherson
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Red Natal no.1
Artist: Jenny Neubecker
Artist Location: Waterloo
Medium: Graphite, pastel and collage on archers paper, 2019
Dimensions: 80 x 30 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland’s varied landscapes lay the foundation for a wide range of grass species. One species, common in coastal areas, is Red Natal. As graziers we value it for the contribution it makes to biodiversity on our property. As an artist I am inspired by the structure of the delicately, fine, feathery seeds that form in clusters on the heads of grass. En masse, paddocks of Red Natal swathe the landscape with rich burgundy reds that provide a striking contrast with neighbouring green pastures. Early stages of seeding produce rich, dark glossy red seed heads that fade to a soft pink as the seed heads mature, then are carried away in the wind.
Photographer: Jenny Neubecker
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Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Artist: Vivienne Bryant
Artist Location: NAMBOUR
Medium: Acrylic, 2019
Dimensions: 31 x 91 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
I first arrived in Queensland from England in 1994. Everything was so different and I loved it. One thing that really struck me was the different styles of houses. In England, large housing estates are filled with houses of only three or four different styles, but in Queensland, the system is totally different. People buy a block of land and then choose a house to build on it, resulting in a great diversity of house styles made from a range of different materials. Early settlers built Timber cottages, but in the 1960s, Brick became the building material of choice. Now, Cement sheet has replaced Weatherboard, and Steel replaced Timber in house frames. New homes are being built at a great rate, but sadly there still are many people who have no home, and sleep rough each night.
Photographer: Tony Bryant
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Old Hope Vale
Artist: Wanda Gibson
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen print on linen, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
As an artist, I am particularly interested in creating work which documents my personal history, in particular, images of the places that I have lived, and the communities that have shaped the person I am today. My textile is called “Old Hope Vale” and it is a map of the Hope Vale mission as I remember it in the early 1970’s. Community life has changed a lot in the last 50 years, but places for community to come together and catch up remain as important as ever. My map shows all the places that were important to me and the community, including the house I moved into with my husband, the school, the shop and the Church, which my father helped to build, and which still stands at the centre of community life in Hope Vale today.
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
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The Invasion
Artist: Rubi Cheesman
Artist Location: MACKAY
Medium: Etching on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 81 x 71 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
“The Invasion” depicts what will happen if humans continue to act carelessly in respect to the environment. A blood red river runs through the lush rainforest, symbolising what is left behind of fauna which are poached from the landscape. Areas of less detail demonstrate what will be lost next and serves as a realisation that part of this landscape is already gone due to deforestation. ‘The Invasion’ magnifies and reveals the issues occurring now; to spread awareness of the impact of thoughtless actions of humans whilst alerting communities to preserve and protect our precious environment.
Photographer: Rubi Cheesman
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Guuti
Artist: Grace Rosendale
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen print on linen
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Guuthi is a series of large silica sand dunes. Behind it there is lagoon which holds sacred healing waters. It is an important place for the Binthi Warra people. One time my father was working on a cattle station, when he became seriously ill. He couldn’t walk and everyone thought that he was going to die. The men had to go off fencing on the station. They had no choice but to leave my father behind. Before they headed off and said their goodbyes, my father asked them to take him to the creek behind Guuthi. The men then bathed him in the waters and then took him back to camp. The men then headed off to work, they were not expecting to find my father alive on their return. When the men returned to camp that evening, they were all happy and astonished to find my dad walking around. .
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
State of Diversity Touring Exhibition:
Expressions of Interest Open
Expressions of Interest (EOIs) are now open for State of Diversity – the exhibition outcome of the 2019 Queensland Regional Art Awards. The exhibition will be available to tour in 2020 – 2021.
Submit your formal EOI to secure a place in the touring exhibition schedule.
The exhibition travels with supporting public programs and collateral material. For full details see the exhibition specifications.
Acknowledgements
Previous Queensland Regional Art Award Competitions
View the winners and touring artists of previous years of the Queensland Regional Art Awards.