Past Winners
2016 Winners
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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.
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Highly Commended Prize Winner #1
Sponsored by the Anglican Diocese 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.
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Highly Commended Prize Winner #2
Sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese 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
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.
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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.
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Highly Commended Prize Winner #2
Sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth
$5,000 non-acquisitive
AARON MOORE
YHWH
Video
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.
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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: And Who Is My Neighbour? (Luke 10:29)
The Mandorla Art Award
Annette Allman
Caring in a competitive world
Oil
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The Mandorla Youth Art Award
Emma Itzstein
Neighbour X
Mixed media print
42 x 60
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Highly Commended
& People’s Choice
Bob Booth
I am your neighbour
Oil on canvas
140 x 150
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Highly Commended
Jánis Nedéla
The golden rule
Acrylic on canvas
144 x 144
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2010 Winners
Scripture Theme: And Who Is My Neighbour? (Luke 10:29)
The Mandorla Art Award
Annette Allman
Caring in a competitive world Oil
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The Mandorla Youth Art Award
Emma Itzstein
Neighbour X Mixed media print 42 x 60
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Highly Commended & People’s Choice
Bob Booth
I am your neighbour Oil on canvas 140 x 150
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Highly Commended
Jánis Nedéla
The golden rule Acrylic on canvas 144 x 144
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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 killed Oil on canvas 167.5 x 122.5
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Highly Commended
Michael Kane Taylor
Shl’ma yhab ana l’khon Digital print on paper on canvas
Highly Commended
Diane Hardy
Symphony of Christ Pencil on canvas
People’s Choice
Joan Johnson
White vinegar I – three days Glass, water, metal
2004 Winners
Scripture Theme: Whatsoever You Do for the Least of them, You Do for Me (Matthew 25:40)
Joint Winner
Michael Kane Taylor
Pedilavium Digital print on paper on canvas 56 x 70
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Joint Winner
Lea Kuhaupt
Verse for the millions Acrylic on canvas 127.5 x 118
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2002 Winner
Scripture Theme: Images of Christ (Matthew 4:18–22, Mark 1:40–45, John 15:12–17)
Brian McKay
The enigma of Christ
Oil on aluminium 121 x 101
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2000 Winner
Scripture Theme: Incarnation – The Birth of Christ (John 1:14)
Julie Dowling
Born for you Oil 96 x 120
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1996 Winner
Scripture Theme: The Greatest of these is Love (1 Corinthians:1–13)
John Coburn
Blue for faith love and hope
Acrylic, coloured pencil on paper 42.5 x 37
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1994 Winner
Scripture Theme: The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–31)
Ron M. Gomboc
At the Gates
Wood, bronze, copper 53 x 127 x 40
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1992 Winner
Scripture Theme: Glory as our Destiny (Romans 8:18–23)
Nigel Hewitt
Circumnavigation of the Soul Oil 72 x 168
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1991 Winner
Scripture Theme: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you (John 14:27)
Nigel Hewitt
Jurien — peace I leave with you Oil 59 x 141
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1990 Winner
Scripture Theme: The Annunciation (Luke 1:26–38)
John Paul
Ante lucem
Acrylic on Board 30 x 24.5
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1989 Winner
Scripture Theme: Prepare the Way of the Lord (Isaiah 40:3)
Ivan Bray
Samson, prepare the way
Acrylic on canvas 86.5 x 73.5
1988 Winner
Scripture Theme: Trust in Divine Providence (Matthew 6:26–34)
Allan Baker
Trust in providence 122 x 153, unframed
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1987 Winner
Scripture Theme: The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive (John 10:10)
Michael Iwanoff
Standing with light
Oil on canvas 170 x 190
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1986 Winner
Scripture Theme: Christ – The Word of God (John 1:1–4)
Brian McKay
Logos
Oil on canvas 153 x 197.5, unframed
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1985 Winner
Scripture Theme: Creation (Revelations 15:3)
Theo Koning
Re-creation
Acrylic on canvas 170 x 185
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