2024 Mandorla Art Award Winners – From the Curator
Australia’s most significant thematic Christian art prize was announced at Holmes à Court Gallery in West Perth. The Award has attracted some of the nation’s finest artists since it was first established in 1985.
The sheer span of mediums and artistic approaches covered in the 2024 Mandorla Art Award makes this an exciting year indeed. Our artists this year are a fantastically varied and dynamic bunch and I feel very lucky, as the recently appointed curator, to get to work with the 2024 finalists and to learn more about their practices. Some are well-established, with national profiles and careers spanning decades. Others are in the early stages of their creative journey, still figuring out who they are as artists and experimenting with their approach to art-making. There are also artistic collaborations included in the finalists, so while there are 41 works, we have 43 artists represented in this exhibition, across five states.
Our Opening Night on Friday 25 May was a wonderful celebration of art and community and we are thrilled that so many artists – both local and interstate – were able to attend, along with our sponsors, patrons, special guests and friends. Opening Night livestream can be viewed here. The exhibition contains painting, drawing, ceramics, video, photography, textiles, sculpture and mixed media. Diverse in approach and medium, all artworks are connected by their response to this year’s powerful theme Refocus: ‘Let all that you do be done in love‘.
The Mandorla Committee would like to congratulate Sarah Elson, 390 Acts of Love winner of the 2024 Mandorla Art Award Prize, Acquisitive: $30,000.
Bernard Appassamy, The Twelve Napkins winner of the Highly Commended Catholic Archdiocese Prize: $5,000.
Kathy Ramsay, My Father’s Country – Warlawoon (Bedford Downs) winner of the Highly Commended Anglican Diocese Prize: $5,000, and Helen Seiver, who was selected for the New Norcia Artist Residency Prize.
Our selection and judging panel this year was comprised of Hannah Mathews, CEO & Director of Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Richard Lewer, Naarm/Melbourne-based artist, and Dr Rev Raewynne Whiteley, theologian and celebrated author. The judges commented on the high quality of the artwork this year and the exhibition’s strength, and they wish to congratulate all finalists.
In their commentary, they found Sarah Elson’s winning work 390 Acts of Love: “…speaks clearly to the 2024 theme Refocus: ‘Let all that you do be done in love’. The work’s intricacy and complexity evokes a sense of care, consideration and curiosity – reflecting the idea that love is seen not so much in grand gestures but in tiny acts. Its form suggests worlds within worlds, stories within stories, and its autobiographical nature speaks to the importance of family, connection and commitment.”
The Judge’s special commendations were for Tessa MacKay, Love Thy Neighbour and Roderick Sprigg, Do you love me, do you love me, do you like me?
Thank you
Erin Coates
Mandorla Curator
The final prize category is the People’s Choice Award. This $2,000 award is sponsored by the New Norcia Benedictine Community. Voting closes Friday 14 June and you are invited to cast your vote here.
All works in the Mandorla Art Award are for sale via QR codes in the gallery and on the website.
We would love to invite you to attend our artist talk session and visit the gallery to see these incredible works on display. Holmes à Court Gallery, 10 Douglas Street, Gooyaman | West Perth. The exhibition is open until 15 June and the Gallery is open: Tues – Sat, 11am – 5pm.