Past Winners

2018 Winners

Scripture Theme: Rev 21:1-2 “And then I saw a new heaven and a new earth….”

St John of God Health Care Prize Winner $25,000 acquisitive

MIKAELA CASTLEDINE God is in the House Crochet cotton, glass and ceramic found objects

The judge’s commented that this is a beautifully crafted piece that takes ordinary found objects and through the artistic process turns them into the sacred. The humble materials of glass, beads and thread have been made into something much more significant. The feminine craft of the work speaks to the human desire to create architectural forms. The forms are clearly recognizable as ecclesiastical but from a range of different faiths.

Highly Commended Prize Winner #1 Sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth $5,000 non-acquisitive

SIMON AND NAOMI MCGRATH The First Earth – Sickness and Death Radiology scans printed on Perspex light box

The artists take the recognisable ecclesial form of a stained glass window and merge it with a personal journey through medical technology. The images of typically Christian elements of hands, metal protrusions and babies take on a whole new meaning.

It is a personal journey of transition made universal through spiritual architecture turning the visceral, cold and macabre into something that breathes hope. The Christian theological stance that death is not the end of the world is expressed in a surprising way. Iconography is the window to the divine and this window leads to a new and better future.

Highly Commended Prize Winner #2 Sponsored by the Anglican Diocese of Perth $5,000 non-acquisitive

BRIAN ROBINSON Moving with the Rhythm of the Stars Linocut

Brian is an artist who straddles multiple cultures and he integrates the idea of mapping the stars in a traditional way with a modern sextant and a view of an ancient Greek god bearing the weight of the world. A mask from his own culture is juxtaposed with the figure of Atlas anchoring this work in timeless forms. How can we think of a new world when the effects of colonialism are still felt and overlaying original cultures? The artist provides metaphors of how we can see the world. A Utopian vision that is integrated with traditional islander motifs and elements.

Patricia Toohey Painting Prize Sponsored by St Joseph’s Parish Subiaco $5,000 non-acquisitive

JULIE DAVIDSON And I Saw (after John Martin) Oil and resin on wood

This painting has a contemporary feel in materials linking to popular culture yet depicting a traditional ancient visionary story. The heroic man seems curious about the apocalyptic scene ahead of him yet calmly forges ahead. The traditional circular shape gives the impression of a lens through which the viewer is looking. As if illustrating a graphic novel the viewer is drawn into a contemporary portrayal of the apocalyptic destruction of the future. The gloss finish brings the environment around it into the picture as if the ‘selfie’ is allowed to be part of the image.

People’s Choice Award Winner Sponsored by the Benedictine Community of Holy Trinity New Norcia $2,000 non-acquisitive

MIKAELA CASTLEDINE God is in the House Crochet cotton, glass and ceramic found objects

Download the 2018 Catalogue

2016 Winners

Scripture Theme: The Resurrection of the Christ

St John of God Health Care Prize Winner $25,000 acquisitive MEGAN ROBERT The Bread Basket at Emmaus – then Flesh returned to Word Bible paper and thread Here is a whole bible, every printed page carefully rolled up and sewn into a basket in a long process of assemblage. The bread basket brings together word and sacrament, relating to the episode when the resurrected Christ walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus and revealed himself when he broke bread at Supper. The bread basket is a container but an empty vessel, it speaks of absence and presence, and we found that many possible readings and meanings can be drawn from this humble, yet complex object.

Highly Commended Prize Winner #1 Sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth $5,000 non-acquisitive CAMILLA LOVERIDGE Over Jerusalem Oil, wax, polymer and paper fibre on marine ply A beautifully worked, tactile painting of a landscape – which she described as ‘the burnt terrain of humanity and life’. Attached to the surface of the painting is a brittle white round shape, which makes the absent body of Christ, present through the host.

Highly Commended Prize Winner #2 Sponsored by the Anglican Diocese of Perth $5,000 non-acquisitive LIBBY BYRNE Resurrection: A Daily Navigation Pigment ink prints on Canon Rag Photographique, 310 gsm in a handmade box A daily navigation is a set of 50 prints documenting a drawing process, beginning on Ash Wednesday, and continued every day until Easter Sunday. Libby set up this process in order to understand the journey towards Resurrection. She photographed the changing drawing each day, recording its development, which includes scraping back paint, starting again, taking a new turn and transforming the image. This is a process, a meditation that requires time, observation, thought, and persistence.

2014 Winners

Scripture Theme: I Kings 19:11-13 “Elijah meets God”

St John of God Health Care Prize Winner $25,000 acquisitive PAUL KAPTEIN Untitled Hand-carved laminated Paulownia wood This work makes solid “The Contours of Emptiness”, as the artist expresses it. The laminated timber sculpture, carved in the manner of a classical marble bust, works well as a metaphor for an inner stillness that came over Elijah as he became aware of the silence after the preceding tumult. The work is technically very refined. Soft undulating folds of the cloak close around a clenched hand at the throat and the prophet’s mantle frames a faceless font or vessel into which we can capture and dissolve our thoughts. The single hole in the chest explodes into a multitude at the back, as if the subject is being violently shot through with a revelation. There is an edgy ambiguity here that points to the prophet as a marginalised, subversive truth-teller while being suggestive of the hoody of a teenager. It has a telling presence.

Highly Commended Prize Winner #1 Sponsored by the Uniting Church in the City $5,000 non-acquisitive STEPHEN FEARNLEY Elijah Meets God Photomedia The hand of Man reaching out for the hand of God is a powerful and simple image. The work plays out the symbols of traditional religious iconography – through the positioning of the fingers – in an arresting, confronting manner. This is emphasised by the distorted perspective of the hand and arm. The expressiveness of the hand also acts as a map of a person’s life, marking out the past and suggesting a destiny at the same time.

Highly Commended Prize Winner #2 Sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth $5,000 non-acquisitive AARON MOORE YHWH Watch a video about this artwork A single idea based on naming the sound of God, the life force itself, whispered breath after breath, is realised through this four-minute video. A bearded man (Could it be the prophet Elijah perhaps?) is filmed in close up and made exposed and open in this meditative act that taps into the mystical in the best sense. That physical expression of the spiritual is even more pronounced as each exhalation condenses and evaporates on the lens, drawing in the viewer in a way that is unsettling and familiar at the same time.

St John of God Health Care Prize for Emerging Artists Winner $5,000 acquisitive JULIAN POON Elijah Hears God Acrylic paint and texta on canvas This solid work depicts Elijah shunning the face of God in his humility amid the broken landscape after the ravages of wind, earthquake fire. Emergent plants in Elijah’s cave symbolise the restorative promise of the future. The picture draws on powerful iconography suggestive of Medieval and Byzantine art, as well as the style of contemporary graffiti.

2012 Winners

Scripture Theme: Galations 4:4 – “Born of a woman”

The Mandorla Art Award John Paul Palm Sunday Gouache and pastel 120 x 120

The Mandorla Youth Art Award Julian Poon Jesus, born of a woman Texta on canvas 122 x 91

Highly Commended Roddy Darlington Reverence Oil and acrylic on canvas 160 x 160

Highly Commended Thelma Cluning We Honour our Women Textiles, fibres 85 x 100

People’s Choice Debbie Walker Tremlett The Gift of a Promise Oil on canvas 105 x 75

2010 Winners

Scripture Theme: Luke 10:25-37 “Who is my neighbour”

The Mandorla Youth Art Award

Emma Itzstein Neighbour X Mixed media print 42 x 60 Watch a video about this artwork

The Mandorla Art Award

Annette Allman Caring in a competitive world Oil Watch a video about this artwork

Highly Commended & People’s Choice

Bob Booth I am your neighbour Oil on canvas 140 x 150 Watch a video about this artwork

Highly Commended

Jánis Nedéla The golden rule Acrylic on canvas 144 x 144 Watch a video about this artwork

2007 Winners

Scripture Theme: The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ (Mark 14:43–15:41, John 20:1–21)

The Mandorla Art Award

Concetta Petrillo Without finding any motive for his death, they condemned him and asked Pilate to have him killedOil on canvas 167.5 x 122.5 Watch a video about this artwork