‘Art for Life’ Award and Spotlight Award Winner: LeAnne Vincent, Flourish, 2020, Cyanotype photograms on cotton with thread, 104 x 104 x 3
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.
In 2020 the Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA) celebrates 10 years, a decade of rewarding and celebrating Queensland regional arts and the wealth of creativity and imagination thriving in the regions.
Decadence may invite notions of luxury and self-indulgence. It may evoke ideas of wanton excess or wastefulness, perhaps with a casual or deliberate disregard of consequence. Dependent on circumstance, personal definitions of decadence can shift quite suddenly.
In 2020, artists were encouraged to explore the complex notion of decadence within their own communities and households across Queensland – both in times of shortage, and in times of plenty. The theme was addressed in an accompanying artist statement of 100 – 150 words.
2020 Judging Panel
Dr Campbell Gray – Director, The University of Queensland Art Museum
Alison Shaw – Arts and Cultural Officer, Blackall-Tambo Regional Council
Tracy Heathwood – Director, Artspace Mackay
QRAA Ekphrasis Challenge
A co-production of Flying Arts and Queensland Poetry Festival, the QRAA Ekphrasis Challenge asks poets Australia-wide to respond to any of eight finalist works in the Queensland Regional Arts Awards 2020. The selected poet for each of the eight categories will receive a publication fee of $500. The six winning artworks will have their matching winning poem featured on a didactic panel in the touring Decadence exhibition, while the two winning poems that respond to the two People’s Choice artworks will be featured on the Flying Arts Alliance website.
Get cracking, writers: poems may be no longer than 12 lines, and the challenge closes on 30 November. Enter Now
2020 WINNING ARTWORKS
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Flourish
LeAnne Vincent, 2020
Artist Location: Sadliers Crossing
Medium: Cyanotype photograms on cotton with thread
Dimensions: 90 x 90 x 0.02 cm
Artist Statement:
During lockdown I commenced a daily exploration of my backyard ecology; walking laps within my confined space, collecting remnants of flora and fauna, and seeking the unseen. Prompted by this investigative process, I began to reconceptualise my understanding of decadence, shifting from material luxuries to the abundance of time for slow observation of nature and appreciation of place. The blueprints expose the richness of complex lifeforms standing as evidence of other worlds existing and functioning within our own — microworlds flourishing, dying, and regenerating.Influenced by the first known female photographer Anna Atkins, who published a book of algae photograms using the cyanotype process in 1843, I used the same technique to create a visual impression of these ecosystems on fabric. The stitching signifies determined walking and the act of mapping while the circles are a recurring motif in my art practice, which here allude to a cyclical abundance.
Photographer: LeAnne Vincent
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Outback, A Sense of Place
Katrina Goldsworthy, 2019
Artist Location: Cornubia
Medium: Watercolour and coloured pencil
Dimensions: 77 x 58 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
OUTBACK’ A SENSE OF PLACE’ 24/7 – H20 is a Pictorial history of a Sense of Place:
A Cameleer in early 2013 found a Sensor Digital Camera in the mud at a isolated dessert spring way OUTBACK in Central Australia. (The spring is on the flood plain of the Mulligan river which runs down the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert about half way between Mt Isa and Birdsville). The Cameleer retrieved the camera and removed the disc downloading the images to his laptop. Who could have believed the wonder that unfolded with the menagerie of wildlife to be found all BOUND by the ‘OUTBACK’ A SENSE OF PLACE.
Please note on each image is the Provenance: you will see the Temperature/date/time in the lower right hand corner of each watercolour sketch which poses the question: Is the water hole ‘Decadence’ or ‘Survival’ or ‘Both’?
Photographer: Katrina Goldsworthy
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Worth the cost?
Erin McKenna, 2020
Artist Location: Erakala
Medium: Digital photograph
Dimensions: 20.3 x 25.5 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
In response to the theme of decadence, I had decided to respond with a piece focused on how too much decadence can be a negative thing. ‘Worth the cost?’ is a photograph based on plastic surgery and Botox. Indulging in these procedures can lead to regret and a loss of one’s identity. In order to communicate this, I had used red shades from the eyeshadow, lipstick and syringe as a symbol of power, wealth and the mental and physical dangers involved with these procedures. The blue background was used in order to create a medical vibe to the image. By having the hand on her cheek, the feeling of her insecurities about her looks is conveyed. The placement of her eyes in the middle matched with the sunken features created by brown eyeshadow further communicates her despair.
Photographer: Erin McKenna
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I seem more aware of subtleties in my space.
Melissa Spratt, 2020
Artist Location: Gold Coast
Medium: Finger-knitted wool on water resistant backing.
Dimensions: 60 x 85 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
This artwork was created as an expression and explanation of what it is to identify as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). In this context, decadence relates to the way in which a HSP manages their external and internal stimuli. Where they are cautious not to over indulge in decadent activities. Due to having a sensitive nervous system, a HSP is aware of subtleties in their surroundings, and is more easily overwhelmed when in a highly stimulating environment. This piece is the beginning of a larger project and speaks to the theme of Decadence in a way that encompasses our growing sensitivities in a world full of overstimulation and change.
Photographer: Melissa Spratt
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REAP
View Video Artwork
Donna Davis, 2020
Artist Location: Deebing Heights
Medium: Video
Dimensions: 30 x 54 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Decadence is an ephemeral and unsustainable state. This work explores the fleeting nature of decadence and invites the viewer to consider the natural world not merely for our pleasure, rather as a multitude of interconnected life that supports the health of our planet.
Collections that house human artefacts have their climate conditions monitored and regulated to ensure the longevity and survival of their contents. But what steps are we taking to regulate climate conditions on planet Earth, the living collection that houses all species, including the human?
With carbon stores continuing to fuel our decadent lifestyles, what are we prepared to change to allow our planet to heal? The work reminds us that we reap what we sow, and asks what will we sow for our future…
Photographer: Donna Davis
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Seagull and Crane – a traditional Lardil story from Mornington Island
Joelene Roughsey, 2020
Artist Location: Gununa, Mornington Island
Medium: Acrylic on linen
Dimensions: 101.5 x 101 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
This Traditional story shows that avoiding responsibility and assuming a decadent, privileged attitude and being a bully will result in some real consequences. This story is told often here on island.
Seagull and Crane – A traditional Lardil story from Mornington Island
On peaceful Bende Reef, out from Biberr, lived the Seagull Woman and her husband, the Crane Man and their little baby. The Crane Man would go out hunting for fish, oysters, and crabs. Sometimes he’d bring back a little bit of food for the family, but not always.
One day when he did come back with food, Crane said to his wife, “Well, Seagull, you gotta get up and cook now. I got some food here for you to cook and it’s my turn to have a rest.” And, then he went and laid down. Sometimes he would just eat his catch out there where he was hunting, and sometimes he didn’t come back at all. One time he was gone for three years.
After three years he walked back up and said, “Hey, it’s me. I’ve come back.” Seagull Woman was not impressed. Seagull Woman took the baby on her little walpa (raft) and dragged it along, dragged it along with the rope.
And she dragged, and she dragged it round and round and round. Cutting deep channels into the land until the water flooded in. While she dragged that walpa she sang that lajirambena (lullaby) song. And so she separated the islands from the mainland by creating those channels of water.
Some people say that Seagull Woman also put a curse on the Crane Man. Because nowadays the Crane can only hunt in shallow water. But Seagull Woman, she’s strong. She can hunt on the open sea, she can fly around and dive, and she can hunt in shallow water or deep water. She has a big family and can look after herself.
Photographer: MIART Mornington Island Art
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Shimmering Gold, 2020
Paul Perry, 2020
Artist Location: Bargara
Medium: Ceramic and glass tiles on reinforced paper bag
Dimensions: 50 x 34 x 14 cm
Artist Statement:
Who will forget 2020 and the impact of the Corona virus on our lifestyle, especially in Regional Queensland? Further isolated within isolation; only dressing up to put the rubbish bins out, zooming into our smart screens for social relief… when the flaky internet connection allows, peering out our front window and sharing the view. Even our beloved shopping trips restricted and under strict social isolation conditions. Now I understand the goldfish dilemma. This calls for decadence! A shimmering facade for the isolated goldfish, no matter which angle you take. Glistening, glittering, and even glowing! Makes one feel much better. But at the core, it’s still just life in a paper bag!
Photographer: Sabrina Lauriston
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A Time Before
Edwin Hamill, 2020
Artist Location: Buderim
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 90 x 120 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Humans are social creatures, we grow up together, entertain each other and form bonds together. The ability to interact with each other in a public space has previously been a privilege that was taken for granted until recent world events. My work “A time Before” focuses on that lack of interaction and our isolation due to quarantine, the decadence of social interaction is now a hope rather than something we once experienced as a social norm. Depicted is a scene with dancers, rich drinks and a line of attendees, nowhere to be seen is a mask or any PPE as we were indulging in what, until recently, was a normal weekend activity. A simplified pallet has been used in order to represent the richness of the scene and portray our previous societal norms as something the we indulged in, unknowingly within weeks it would become a privilege.
Photographer: Edwin Hamill
Flourish, LeAnne Vincent (Ipswich) – The Flying Arts ‘Art for Life’ Award, thanks to Holding Redlich – $10,000 cash, non-acquisitive and Spotlight Award, a professional text to be written by visual arts essayist and consultant Louise Martin-Chew, PhD valued at $1,000, thanks to Onespace Gallery and art words
Outback, A Sense of Place, Katrina Goldsworthy (Cornubia) – 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
Worth the Cost?, Erin McKenna (Mackay Region) – Young Artist Development Award, thanks to Turner Family Foundation – $2,000 cash, non-acquisitive
I seem more award of subtleties in my space, Melissa Spratt (Gold Coast) – Textile Art Award, thanks to an Art for Life donor – $1,500 cash, non-acquisitive
REAP, Donna Davis (Ipswich) – Digital Art Award, thanks to State Library of Queensland, The Johnson and Flying Arts – Fully funded one-week residency at State Library of Queensland, The Edge, including 7 nights accommodation at Art Series – The Johnson, valued at $4,000
Seagull and Crane – a traditional Lardil story from Mornington Island, Joelene Roughsey (Gununa, Mornington Island) – Remote Artist Award, thanks to Woolloongabba Art Gallery – $1,500 cash, non acquisitive
Shimmering Gold, 2020, Paul Perry (Bargara) – People’s Choice Award (Adult), thanks to TAFE Queensland – $1250 cash, non acquisitive
A Time Before, Edwin Hamill (Buderim) – People’s Choice Award (Youth), thanks to TAFE Queensland – $750 cash, non acquisitive
Decadence Touring Exhibition: Expressions of Interest Open
Expressions of Interest (EOIs) are now open for Decadence, touring Regional Queensland in 2021 – 2022.
The exhibition travels with supporting public programs and collateral material. Enquire with Flying Arts Exhibition Lead for further information.
DECADENCE TOURING EXHIBITION
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Flourish
LeAnne Vincent, 2020
Artist Location: Sadliers Crossing
Medium: Cyanotype photograms on cotton with thread
Dimensions: 90 x 90 x 0.02 cm
Artist Statement:
During lockdown I commenced a daily exploration of my backyard ecology; walking laps within my confined space, collecting remnants of flora and fauna, and seeking the unseen. Prompted by this investigative process, I began to reconceptualise my understanding of decadence, shifting from material luxuries to the abundance of time for slow observation of nature and appreciation of place. The blueprints expose the richness of complex lifeforms standing as evidence of other worlds existing and functioning within our own — microworlds flourishing, dying, and regenerating.Influenced by the first known female photographer Anna Atkins, who published a book of algae photograms using the cyanotype process in 1843, I used the same technique to create a visual impression of these ecosystems on fabric. The stitching signifies determined walking and the act of mapping while the circles are a recurring motif in my art practice, which here allude to a cyclical abundance.
Photographer: LeAnne Vincent
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Worth the cost?
Erin McKenna, 2020
Artist Location: Erakala
Medium: Digital photograph
Dimensions: 20.3 x 25.5 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
In response to the theme of decadence, I had decided to respond with a piece focused on how too much decadence can be a negative thing. ‘Worth the cost?’ is a photograph based on plastic surgery and Botox. Indulging in these procedures can lead to regret and a loss of one’s identity. In order to communicate this, I had used red shades from the eyeshadow, lipstick and syringe as a symbol of power, wealth and the mental and physical dangers involved with these procedures. The blue background was used in order to create a medical vibe to the image. By having the hand on her cheek, the feeling of her insecurities about her looks is conveyed. The placement of her eyes in the middle matched with the sunken features created by brown eyeshadow further communicates her despair.
Photographer: Erin McKenna
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Seagull and Crane – a traditional Lardil story from Mornington Island
Joelene Roughsey, 2020
Artist Location: Gununa, Mornington Island
Medium: Acrylic on linen
Dimensions: 101.5 x 101 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
This Traditional story shows that avoiding responsibility and assuming a decadent, privileged attitude and being a bully will result in some real consequences. This story is told often here on island.
Seagull and Crane – A traditional Lardil story from Mornington Island
On peaceful Bende Reef, out from Biberr, lived the Seagull Woman and her husband, the Crane Man and their little baby. The Crane Man would go out hunting for fish, oysters, and crabs. Sometimes he’d bring back a little bit of food for the family, but not always.
One day when he did come back with food, Crane said to his wife, “Well, Seagull, you gotta get up and cook now. I got some food here for you to cook and it’s my turn to have a rest.” And, then he went and laid down. Sometimes he would just eat his catch out there where he was hunting, and sometimes he didn’t come back at all. One time he was gone for three years.
After three years he walked back up and said, “Hey, it’s me. I’ve come back.” Seagull Woman was not impressed. Seagull Woman took the baby on her little walpa (raft) and dragged it along, dragged it along with the rope.
And she dragged, and she dragged it round and round and round. Cutting deep channels into the land until the water flooded in. While she dragged that walpa she sang that lajirambena (lullaby) song. And so she separated the islands from the mainland by creating those channels of water.
Some people say that Seagull Woman also put a curse on the Crane Man. Because nowadays the Crane can only hunt in shallow water. But Seagull Woman, she’s strong. She can hunt on the open sea, she can fly around and dive, and she can hunt in shallow water or deep water. She has a big family and can look after herself.
Photographer: MIART Mornington Island Art
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Gilded Age is Gone
Cathy Condon, 2020
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: Oil and enamel on polyester
Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
This painting references the Gilded Age, particularly that of America’s modern history, characterized by the central motif the Fleur de Lis. I lived in New York City for two years up until April this year when I returned to Australia due to COVID-19. This painting is a personal tribute to the period of change I have lived through in recent months. It references the dichotomy I experienced as an artist working in downtown Manhattan. The decadence, grandeur and excess of America and New York City and the underlying poverty and lack of health and social systems. The breaking down of old systems is occurring and the decadent gilded age is lost. This work reflects the current state of world events i.e. the global end of an era and the start of a new world order.
Photographer: Cathy Condon
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Pause
View Video Artwork
Renee Yates, 2019
Artist Location: East Ipswich
Medium: Animation
Dimensions: Variable cm
Artist Statement:
Pause (2019) reflects the decadent nature of seeking stillness in a society that so often venerates the busy. A moving-image streetscape, the work invites viewers to “take a pause” and explore the intricacies of the world that are often missed in the hustle and bustle of modern life. Made in a pre-COVID world, the image’s audio-visual elements, comprising of field recordings and subtle animation of clouds, planes, birds, chimney smoke, flickering lights and falling jacaranda blooms, pull the viewers into the decadence of standing still in a suburban world. On process: a series of hand cut painted paper collages, photographs, and pastel and charcoal strokes were digitised and arranged then animated then brought to life with a field recording of Queensland suburbia.
Photographer: Renee Yates
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Decadence and Decay
Tracey Lloyd, 2020
Artist Location: Deception Bay
Medium: Digital Print
Dimensions: 59 x 84 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Tracey Lloyd is a digital artist and historic fiction writer living in Deception Bay. Her work is based on manipulation of photographs taken by her, normally during research trips for her historic fiction.
Decadence and Decay explores the meaning of architecture to humanity. Decadence and Decay asks the viewer to consider the relationship between our selves and the buildings that surround us. Through the positioning of a woman in a bridal gown in front of a red brick archway in the grounds of the former 19th Century lunatic asylum at Callan Park, Sydney, the artwork explores how areas formerly known for cruel treatment of vulnerable people are now used for celebrations of humanity, such as weddings.
Photographer: Tracey Lloyd
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Their Excellencies
Rachel South, 2020
Artist Location: Elimbah
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 101.5 x 101.5 x 35 cm
Artist Statement:
From an early age I had a paintbrush in hand. Ingrained is the urge to take an idea, an image, and make it creatively more, looking deeper to re-purpose beyond its original intentions.
“Their Excellencies” explores the theme of decadence in a way that takes the botanical world and embellishes it to a higher level of beauty and pleasure. A portal of exaggerated reality of nature. To have this composition as a reality itself would be a luxury. It was derived from a searching for wholeness, fullness and abundance. I am greatly influenced by my natural surroundings. The beauty within natural forms. The amazing structures, colours and textures that make up our country. We go about our daily routines, often blind, unless we take pause to notice. I hope this piece can be a historical reflection of the decadent nature we live with, and strive to retain for future generations.
Photographer: Rachel South
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The rose-coloured glass she was looking through
Hannah Murray, 2020
Artist Location: South Townsville
Medium: Mixed media on watercolour paper
Dimensions: 64 x 53 x 0.31 cm
Artist Statement:
Created using a selection of drawing and painting media my work is from an ongoing series titled Happy Hour. With origins as far back as Shakespeare, the words ‘happy’ and ‘hour’ have appeared together for centuries and used to reference designated periods of drinking, entertainment and pleasurable times. ‘Happy Hour’ in tropical paradise is the absolute epitome of decadence in hedonistic Western society. The exotic allure of North Queensland is no exception. Promoted as being “no place like it on Earth,” holidaymakers are enticed to “escape to luxe island hideaways and indulgent retreats.” The aim of my work is to challenge the treacherous duality of “Happy Hour” by asking viewers to look beyond the rose-coloured glass and consider the consequences of such fleeting pleasures. My greatest concern is that in our insatiable pursuit for happiness we are inadvertently contributing to the demise of already fragile environmental and cultural systems.
Photographer: Hannah Murray
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hoc est pulchritudinem – ac interitus et exitium
Cara-Ann Simpson, 2020
Artist Location: Toogoom
Medium: Pigment print on Ilford gold fibre gloss rag
Dimensions: 76 x 76 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
hoc est pulchritudinem – ac interitus et exitium (this is the beauty – their destruction and decay) is from Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers) – a series of vanitas artworks exploring ephemerality and societal decay.
This series acts as a nexus between commentary on personal challenges and an outward interpretation of global news. They are an ironic reminder of the innate beauty found simultaneously in decadence and decay.
Photographed on black velvet and digitally arranged to evoke concepts inherent in medieval funerary art, this work describes the inevitable decay of life – a flower decomposing from the moment of separation from its life-giver. The spectrograph (visual analysis of soundwaves) reads the title – a reminder that while there is much beauty in the transient commodities that we immerse ourselves within, they, like life, will pass and may lead to self-destruction and demise.
Photographer: Cara-Ann Simpson
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Here’s Looking At You, Kid – Last Drinks
Anne-Louise Ciel, 2020
Artist Location: Eatons Hill
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 76 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
“Here’s looking at you, kid”, Humphrey Bogart says to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, as he bids her farewell. Likewise, we are looking on as the last fragile habitat of the Black Throated Finch is wantonly destroyed in the name of short term gain by a few. What can be more decadent in a time of ecological crisis, than to frivolously erase a Queensland treasure, to squander our precious pristine environment, only to pointlessly extend a dying industry. A circular composition, we are first caught by her eyes, travel along wayward hair to a small stand of trees symbolising the Finches’ remaining shelter. Dropping, we discover this plucky little bird perched ever-so-lightly with us, then her scarf swings the return. Her expression is split: the right side a sweet smile of joy in the moment; the left side full of grim awareness of its brevity.
Photographer: Anne-Louise Ciel
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ABUNDANCE
Second Image of Artwork
Christine Holden, 2020
Artist Location: Boyne Island
Medium: Marine Debris and plastics
Dimensions: 10 x 41 x 28 cm
Artist Statement:
I reside on the central east coast of Queensland where seafood is plentiful, but is still regarded as a very decadent food choice which is only available to some. Ordering a seafood platter with oysters, prawns, scallops and crab claws is available in local restaurants, but remains something that many locals only dream about or savour for those special occasions. It is regarded as a decadent choice so it was the first thing I thought of when considering this year’s theme and the region I live in. The use of marine debris such as plastics, netting and fishing line highlights something else that is also sadly in abundance. We are lucky to have fresh wild caught seafood on our doorstep, but how decadent of us to threaten this resource by continuing to produce single use plastics…food for thought.
Photographer: Christine Holden
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Redemption Series – Echidna
Deborah Mostert, 2019
Artist Location: Ipswich
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 103 x 76 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
I picked up this little female echidna after she was hit by a car and took her back to the studio to both mourn her passing and try to redeem her death. I drew and painted her over a day or so before taking her to the Queensland Museum where she will prepared as a study skin for the collection. When there is decadence in our society it seems it is so often at the expense of the natural world.
I have inverted the traditional museum cloche with it’s attendant practices of killing animals for specimens and hinted at the redemptive threads that bind all living creatures.
We no longer shoot animals for our museum collections, but we probably kill many more in wanton carelessness.
Photographer: Deborah Mostert
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Casuistry Extreme
View Video Artwork
Yanni Van Zijl, 2020
Artist Location: Sunshine Beach
Medium: Video
Dimensions: Variable
Artist Statement:
Casuistry – the resolving of moral problems by the application of theoretical rules to particular instances.
Extreme – from drought to the depths of despair.
Casuistry Extreme is a film that creates an engagement about humans relationship between our actions and the events that are the consequences.
“Wanton excess or wastefulness. Perhaps casual or deliberate disregard of consequence.”This film is about mankind’s accountability for the environment.
In the latest Intergovernmental Panel on climate change we were warned that we have 12 years to act in order to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees.
In Australia, fire, flood, and drought are more prevalent than ever before.
We are currently in a climate emergency, Australia has just experienced nine out of ten of the highest temperatures since 2005.
Yanni has used herself as the canvas on which to represent the extremes of landscape and our impact on the environment.
Photographer: Yanni Van Zijl
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Life’s Necessities
Second Image of Artwork
Joanne Taylor, 2020
Artist Location: Barcaldine
Medium: Paper pulp, box board, tissue, wax crayon, acrylic, silver leaf
Dimensions: 14 x 10 x 47 cm
Artist Statement:
Toilet paper more than any other commodity sums up for me, what’s important to ordinary people in the modern era. We all need it daily regardless of our socio-economic circumstances and it is available to everyone as required. Yet it is often the most stolen of items during tourist season in outback towns, perhaps because of its relative low value, and the perceived inability to police it’s theft. The Corona virus crisis of 2020 has brought our first-world priorities into sharp focus in the most extraordinary way. Travel restrictions have curbed the tourist season in the outback – no “grey nomads” in their caravans. This work “Life’s Necessities,” seeks to remind us how lucky we’ve been during an era of prolonged prosperity and relative peace. Sometimes we completely lose sight of things of real necessity, of much more importance to earlier generations during times of privation.
Photographer: Donna merchant
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Mottlecah, Eucalyptus macrocarpa study
Jenny Gilbertson, 2020
Artist Location: Bundaberg
Medium: Pencil on paper
Dimensions: 19 x 93.5 x 6 cm
Artist Statement:
In-your-face opulence; a visual stunner! That’s how I remember my first encounter with Eucalyptus macrocarpa, or Mottlecah. Innumerable encounters later this tough, ungainly beauty still stops me in my tracks. If I could grow it in my garden I would. Geometric spirals of tightly packed blue grey leaves spread in patches along dark spindly branches, winding towards the sky and trailing downwards. Soft white velvet fur on each new leaf contrasts with a smooth sharpness as they age. And the flowers; the shear size of them is astounding! They burst from their enormous gumnut cocoons as vibrant flashes of red, tipped with yellow pollen. Luscious. This indulgent display in a harsh, dry landscape seems to sing of absolute joy in being: a show of decadence even when things are tough.
Photographer: Jenny Gilbertson
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Rivers, Creeks & Streams
Kylie Stevens, 2020
Artist Location: Pine Mountain
Medium: River water, copper leaf, earth, charcoal and acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 76 x 91 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
Witnessing our waterways treated with decadence, becoming polluted and chocked dry, leads me to showcase them highlighting the beauty and alchemy of nature, inspiring in the viewer a deeper respect for and desire to protect our precious natural spaces.
River water thins my paint, allowing it to pool and travel across the canvas. With the addition of ochres collected from my property and ground charcoal the canvas is marked, giving control to the river itself in this stage of the work. Then, with intent and precision, I map the river in charcoal and copper leaf upon the richly-textured surface. Using the natural elements of river water and earth, the work contains the essence of the place it represents.
I am an Ipswich-based artist working with and within the environment. My diverse multimedia arts practice allows me the flexibility to express my deep connection with, and reverence for, nature.
Photographer: Kylie Stevens
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Indulgence
Libby Derham, 2020
Artist Location: Peregian Springs
Medium: Watercolour on recycled envelopes
Dimensions: 0.12 x 0.47 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
My current practice focuses on sensory awareness in the landscape and the substrate’s journey from discarded to prominent. During lock down, I home schooled my two children and also taught my primary and secondary students from home. During this period, I craved alone time for painting and missed plein air outdoors. On daily walks I created ‘walking whilst drawing’ scrolls which would form the basis of paintings back in the studio, using transfer paper to keep these marks authentic from the experience. This current process of artmaking became a lifeline to me, as times got tougher. When restrictions eased for Mother’s Day, I asked for one thing, a day to paint plein air in the landscape I longed for, with solitude to think. This is the view on the hill behind our house, with magical views to Emu Mountain and the sea. Decadence to me that day was pure self-indulgence.
Photographer: Libby Derham
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Black Tree Caligraphy I
Rose Rigley, 2020
Artist Location: Whitfield
Medium: Mixed media (monoprint, ink, ink wash, hand stitching, machine stitching, glue) on board
Dimensions: 105 x 76 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
When considering the theme DECADENCE, I couldn’t navigate past the idea of self-indulgence and for me, (like many), that involves the luxury of time. Time allows an artwork to evolve, with no specific purpose other than the sheer joy of conceptualizing, discovering, and finally creating. Such a creation is enabled with methods that are often repetitive and occasionally tedious but permits the artist the luxury of pondering thoughts and long-drawn-out pauses.
In “Black Tree Calligraphy I”, the blackened husks of the tree bodies become memory’s text, creating their own language above the printed, drawn and stitched surrounds. By placing the tree ‘words’ over this landscape, I could consider the space in between. It is this place – where shadows form, where silent pauses rest and where memories linger – that I am seeking to understand. In today’s busy-ness, what an extravagance to be able to do so!
Photographer: Michael Marzik
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REAP
View Video Artwork
Donna Davis, 2020
Artist Location: Deebing Heights
Medium: Video
Dimensions: 30 x 54 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Decadence is an ephemeral and unsustainable state. This work explores the fleeting nature of decadence and invites the viewer to consider the natural world not merely for our pleasure, rather as a multitude of interconnected life that supports the health of our planet.
Collections that house human artefacts have their climate conditions monitored and regulated to ensure the longevity and survival of their contents. But what steps are we taking to regulate climate conditions on planet Earth, the living collection that houses all species, including the human?
With carbon stores continuing to fuel our decadent lifestyles, what are we prepared to change to allow our planet to heal? The work reminds us that we reap what we sow, and asks what will we sow for our future…
Photographer: Donna Davis
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These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things
Grant Quinn, 2020
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Digital photograph
Dimensions: 73 x 58 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
With a passion for collecting, my decadent obsession started many years ago after being gifted a Wedgwood Gravy Boat by my Grandmother. I still have that gravy boat, sitting front and centre in my dining room display cabinet, but little was I to know that this simple gravy boat would lead to a life time of becoming a ‘mad collector’, driving miles in the search for that next bargain. Before I knew it, I became one of the torch light brigade bargain hunters, scouring markets, fairs and garage sales well before the sun came up. Seeking out that elusive piece to add to my already overflowing abundant decadent obsession.
Photographer: Grant Quinn
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Me Time
Emma Thorp, 2020
Artist Location: Hervey Bay
Medium: Coloured Pencil over Acrylic on Paper
Dimensions: 69 x 47 x 0.29 cm
Artist Statement:
I happened upon a moment of awareness when I was being the typical martyr mother, sacrificing my own mental and emotional health to be what I thought was the best Mum I could be. I realised that I was not modelling a healthy balanced life for my children. I realised that making time for myself to feel fulfilled and happy made me a better mother and my children more independent. Here I am reading, surrounded by piles of washing, feeling oh so rebellious and decadent, safe in the knowledge that the washing will wait.
Photographer: Emma Thorp
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Goodness #108
Fiona Quin, 2020
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: Digital print
Dimensions: 58.9 x 83.6 x 0.5 cm
Artist Statement:
In today’s world we rush from here to there, wanting this and that, and never stopping. We take vitamins, supplements, and pills for that instant relief and quick fix with a casual disregard of the consequences. Our western society has become decadent and self-indulgent in looking after our body, health, and wellbeing. This artwork, Goodness #108, illustrates how the “health” supplement industry has decayed our understanding of health and goodness through the take-one-a-day pill advice. By combining digital art, photography, and graphic design techniques, I hope to convey this current state of social decadence through the lens of a magazine cover, itself a decadent medium in its short-term use of natural resources such as paper.
Photographer: Fiona Quin
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Outback, A Sense of Place
Katrina Goldsworthy, 2019
Artist Location: Cornubia
Medium: Watercolour and coloured pencil
Dimensions: 77 x 58 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
OUTBACK’ A SENSE OF PLACE’ 24/7 – H20 is a Pictorial history of a Sense of Place:
A Cameleer in early 2013 found a Sensor Digital Camera in the mud at a isolated dessert spring way OUTBACK in Central Australia. (The spring is on the flood plain of the Mulligan river which runs down the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert about half way between Mt Isa and Birdsville). The Cameleer retrieved the camera and removed the disc downloading the images to his laptop. Who could have believed the wonder that unfolded with the menagerie of wildlife to be found all BOUND by the ‘OUTBACK’ A SENSE OF PLACE.
Please note on each image is the Provenance: you will see the Temperature/date/time in the lower right hand corner of each watercolour sketch which poses the question: Is the water hole ‘Decadence’ or ‘Survival’ or ‘Both’?
Photographer: Katrina Goldsworthy
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I seem more aware of subtleties in my space.
Melissa Spratt, 2020
Artist Location: Gold Coast
Medium: Finger-knitted wool on water resistant backing.
Dimensions: 60 x 85 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
This artwork was created as an expression and explanation of what it is to identify as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). In this context, decadence relates to the way in which a HSP manages their external and internal stimuli. Where they are cautious not to over indulge in decadent activities. Due to having a sensitive nervous system, a HSP is aware of subtleties in their surroundings, and is more easily overwhelmed when in a highly stimulating environment. This piece is the beginning of a larger project and speaks to the theme of Decadence in a way that encompasses our growing sensitivities in a world full of overstimulation and change.
Photographer: Melissa Spratt
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The Cage
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Niloufar Lovegrove, 2020
Artist Location: The Caves
Medium: Video
Dimensions: Variable cm
Artist Statement:
When a bird is in a cage, no matter how refreshing the surrounding is, it will loose its ability to fly. When a person is set in a limiting condition, planning a way out is the only way the only way not to decay. Feeling trapped whether in a geographic border or an emotional barrier can activate either acceptance – a gradual death- to survive; or a break out plan. My video is depicting a girl dancing and celebrating life in her little cage. She may break down or break free.
Photographer: Niloufar Lovegrove
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Decadence
Angela Heffer, 2020
Artist Location: Kawana
Medium: Digital illustration
Dimensions: 35 x 35 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
The first thing I thought about when I read the title ‘Decadence,’ was an overindulgence in fine food. Immediately, I pictured a group of women I had seen enjoying themselves at a local cafe prior to the COVID-19 social restrictions being enforced. I had made a sketch at the time, so with a little imagination I embellished the scene to show two ladies of the ‘Red hat’ society partaking in a high tea.
Older women in rural and regional Australia have collectively experienced a lot of hard times and grief. They have also volunteered many hours helping those less fortunate than themselves. For these reasons, I believe they deserve a little decadence in their lives.
My digital illustration was made by drawing with an Apple Pencil on iPad Pro. I used a 6mm fine black tip then filled in the shapes with solid, decadent colours using the illustrator application.
Photographer: Angela Heffer
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Branch Creek Chinchilla
Helen Dennis, 2020
Artist Location: Chinchilla
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Mother Nature’s self-indulgence and paradoxical frugality can be found throughout the Natural World that surrounds us. One season may be abundant, the next woefully lacking, subject to her whimsy. When she chooses to be indulgent her decadence is shown in the abundant blooming of the land, the filling of the waterways and the returning of joy to all its inhabitant. When she chooses to be frugal, her decadence shows in a callous disregard for the land with cataclysmic consequences for all. Subsequently, life for rural communities is one which swings between periods of plenty to one of austerity. As an artist I am drawn to the decadence of Mother Nature… the patterning upon the land, within the trees and grasses, the reflections on water, the relationship between sky and ground, the negative spaces between natural objects and much more. ‘Branch Creek’ is one such place that intrigues me…
Photographer: Helen Dennis
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Pandora
Ange Venardos, 2020
Artist Location: Bribie Island
Medium: Watercolour
Dimensions: 110 x 100 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
Where is the line between luxury and greed? In Greek Mythology, Pandora let her curiosity get the better of her and opened ‘the box’. Her choice unleashed many evils into our world and triggered complicated problems. My painting tells the story of where Decadence begins – that point where we choose to plunge into an existence beyond what we need to live comfortably day by day. It is a reminder that everything is linked. Our choices and actions may seem inconsequential, but affect the world in ways we might not even imagine.
Photographer: Ange Venardos
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Decadence
Jane du Rand, 2020
Artist Location: Ipswich
Medium: Glazed ceramic sculpture with oxides and gold lustre
Dimensions: 8 x 36 x 41 cm
Artist Statement:
Three dead charred rainbow lorikeets are arranged on a decorative platter, as left overs from a feast. The word decadence makes me think of excessive indulgence, I imagine a banquet with waste and uneaten food. Recently the images that have been stuck in my head have been some photographs I saw taken on the beach at Mallacoota after the summer bushfires, of the charred remains of birds caught in the fires with bits of coloured plumage in amongst the black ashes. I have also been coming across a number of dead lorikeets while out bush walking, and have collected these and photographed them. These images make me think of the decadent way we treat our environment. How we, as humans don?t care, how we waste, not only resources, but also the lives of the creatures that share our planet, and how we do this for our pleasure.
Photographer: Eve Caillon
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Acknowledgements
Previous Queensland Regional Art Award Competitions
View the winners and touring artists of previous years of the Queensland Regional Art Awards.