AND SO THE CYCLE CONTINUES explores the conversation between influence and identity. Experiencing life through memories and cultivating a persona based on superficial notions of nostalgia, identity can be defined in the 21st century as a reflection of the enmeshing
I acknowledge, pay respect, and pay the rent to the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands on which I live and work: the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations.
Loss of my assumptive world refers to a significant part of my grieving process, the expectation for a person to continue to be in your life and needing to adjust this assumption after their passing. I explore the changes that
ALPHA 60 AWARD WINNER VEILED REFLECTIONS – THE WARDROBE AS A LIMINAL STRUCTURE OF INTERSECTING IDENTITIES explores the healing potential of material manipulation and repetitive processes. My practice becomes a physical means of breaking down psychological barriers and confronting
Winner: The Fullstop Framing Company Award. https://www.fullstopframing.com/ Highly Commended: ACAE Gallery. https://acaearts.com.au/ My work emerges from a process that is both instinctual and uncertain, unfolding without a clear destination. I often don’t recognise what I’ve made until the end.
WUNDERKAMMER. Dissection of the mind and matters. Eclectic. Found objects. Curiosities. Undiscovered. Line. Boundary. Trashy. Tacky. Campy. Lace. Tulips. Bugs. Moon. Sun. Bears. Fish. Hearts. Stickers. Gems. Dolls. Teeth. Contemplation. Pearls. Apologies. Locket. Keys. Ribbon. Sequins. Ornate frames. Grudge. Pink.
WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE is an invitation to propel this object into motion. I ask you to feel my materials and to watch them turn over, in, and around, as I have. This work is about personal symbolism, transformation
Home as Qualia: Reflections on the miniature object. My practice-led research project Home as Qualia: Reflections on the miniature object is an ode to places of memory and devotion—the home. I hand-craft miniatures, boxes, and lockets to examine how home
PASS THE BUTTER is a self-portrait that unfolds across various mediums and techniques. This piece delves into the emotions I can encounter in the creative process as well as everyday life. I aim to capture how relentless my thoughts and mindset
UNRAVELLING is a textile-based work that uses both handmade and found materials to delve into the themes of women’s work, girlhood and personal history. Through weaving and patchworking, the work explores how textiles can hold memory and identity, much like
My art practice is closely connected to my life experiences, and this year, I focused on my relationship with my mother as a central theme. I explored the patterns of our communication and how our bond shifted due to the
UN-PACK EXPRESSION THROUGH MATERIALITY. My practice consists of expressing emotions through imagery and materiality, pent-up feelings using symbolism as such dog figures which have often seen as faithful, loyal animals. Use of facial imagery and materiality to convey depth within
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL AWARD WINNER fragments of deterioration. Betty’s work explores echoes of human presence, navigating the blurred boundaries between life and death. Her creations, influenced by ritualistic and macabre inspirations, feel like personal offerings, through various mediums:
The Grand Tour, A Contemporary Take. Solo travelling and backpacking has been a transformative experience for me. Following the isolation we all felt during the Covid years, I went backpacking through Europe during the winter break 2024. I only took
Unearthed looks at the hidden networks below the surface that create a complex, functioning ecosystem that is older than humanity. I derive my forms to represent the connections between mycelium and tree roots; these organisms infuse landscapes. My work aims
THE MOAT AWARD WINNER CACHEXIA. A surreal exploration of the decaying body, born from the intersection of personal experience and the unsettling reality of transformation. This body of work reflects an intimate relationship with my own physical form, fusing surrealist
Celine Babet explores how a cultural lifestyle has influenced her sense of self by making works of multiple ceramic components. Through her conceptual research, she draws upon childhood memories and family relationships, which are deeply rooted in Italian culture. Babet
Megalo Print Studio Graduate Award MYCELIA – a venture into my past, honouring the previous versions of myself that allowed me to become the person I am today, as well as the people in my life who have shaped my
KIPPLE. Kipple pays homage to the object and its collector. This work’s nomenclature follows Philip K. Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, where ‘kipple’ refers to the clutter of useless junk that reproduces itself when your back is
Winner: Tolarno Hotel Award. UNIFORM: Autobiographical reflections on the interplay between conformity, gender and neurodiverse thinking. Uniform explores the intricate dynamics of identity, conformity, and neurodiverse thinking within the rigid structures of the schooling experience. The work examines the complexities
Winner – Koodak Award for Enamelling – Technical Excellence (presented by Koodak Jewellery Supplies) Haeng-Bok (행복 Happiness & Luck). As a fan of the K-pop group The Boyz, I aim to share the joy and happiness I have experienced
DUST PIECE. With everything packed into boxes, all that’s left is dust. instagram.com/ms.homunculus
The theme of my project is an imaginative exploration of unreal dragons: Dragon is Everywhere. The entire project reflects my ongoing exploration of materials and concepts. I focus on dragons, drawing inspiration from Chinese philosophy and the Five Elements (Wu
UNTITLED captures the idea of abstract ceramic forms that combines two textures. One with a fluid, glossy surface that reflects light and another that portrays a rough, matte texture that’s raw and organic. This creates a dynamic tension between the
FRAGMENTS AND THREADS. My art journey started in earnest five years ago. My daughter had just commenced her first year at RMIT studying a Bachelor of Art (Fine Art). Seeing how much she was learning and developing her skills in
SHEARED HAIR, SHAVED HEAD. I am a sculpture artist based on Wadawurrung Country with a background in textile art. My practice interprets a language that bears trace of family linage listening to the materials as a generative process. Sheared Head, Shaved
Garland Award for Innovative Storied Object. Highly commended: Chapman and Bailey. Searching for Light, The One Tree, and the Universe in a Piece of Quartz. Debra Higgins is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives, works, and studies in Naarm/Melbourne. Her recent
Winner: ACAE Gallery Award. In my practice, I weave together cultural influences, memories, emotions, and the subtleties of everyday existence. Observation is an inherent and fundamental way I interact with and perceive the world, exploring the hidden beauty of my surroundings.
Firestation Print Studio Graduate Scholarship MICROCOSM. Microcosm is a body of work investigating the patterns, convergences and linkages between life on earth. I am interested in the linkages of life and matter through coexistence, and this project is formed on
Winner: Chapman and Bailey Award. In this series of paintings, I am thematically concerned with creating intriguing geometric compositions of figures and urban landscapes. I seek to cause the viewer’s gaze to travel across a pictorial plane, not rest in
RABBIT OUT OF A HAT: AN AMALGAMATION OF THE FEMININE UNCONSCIOUS. My unconscious. Canvas & paper & oil paint & ink. Archives. Feminist theory. Religious imagery. Obliteration. Bodies. Heart patterned underwear. Balancing Elephant. Targets and foxes and performers. instagram.com/ellasimpsonartist
Nothing happens in a vacuum. “I believe that neurobiology can contribute to an understanding of aesthetics, but it cannot do so in a vacuum.” This quote from Siri Hustvedt’s Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women encapsulates the essence of
Megalo Print Studio Graduate Award AKIN explores the merging of printmaking and collage, alongside my investigating of different copper-plate making techniques. Print-making is a rhythmic artform, and can form multiple images from one matrix. It is a very cyclical process,
Masking tape, paper, and other bits and pieces: material exploration and jumping between tasks. Over the last year, my practice has focused on investigating and recontextualising a variety of materials – paper, masking tape, nails, canvas off-cuts, found lolly wrappers,
JOSEPH BEUYS CAFE AWARD WINNER THE MOAT AWARD WINNER ENERGY IN MOTION AND A ‘MOVING DRAWING’ – transformations of individual drawings expand into animated projections, manifesting through spatial investigations and sculptural installations. Lines and forms seemingly grow and shrink, sway
The focus of this project continues themes I am continually drawn back to in my practice. Broadly, my practice comes from a curiosity for the human experience, and our attempts to explain it. My focus on the body as a
DREAM CATCHERS. Dreams are an essential part of the human condition, acting in the subconscious mind of every individual. Through sculpture, I aim to bring these subconscious thoughts to the forefront of one’s mind, forcing a confrontation between oneself and
44 Frame Factory Graduate Award GAME GIRLS. Game Girls is a project in response to the sexism seen in the video game industry. The portrayal of the feminine characters in video games is often hypersexual or helpless, diminishing their agency
My practice is greatly impacted by my experiences with undiagnosed neurodivergence, growing up queer, and grappling with mental illness. While these features of my life inflict themselves upon my work, I find myself experiencing the most joy when I focus
Winner – 2024 RMIT Gold & Silversmithing Studio Prize ALL HAIL THE GIANTS – a wooden love story for old growth forests My work is concerned with the deforestation of old growth forests in Tasmania, I am motivated by
Here With Me is an immersive installation designed as a sanctuary for conversation and connection. Amid the overwhelming negativity and isolation we often feel, this piece invites visitors to step into a space of shared warmth and tranquility. Draped in
STEALING FOG is an exploration of concealment. I work in an expanded painting practice, with most of my works being concerned with the space between intelligibility and unintelligibility, working with themes of subtraction and obscurity. I often find myself following
UNTITLED is a large-scale nest-like structure that aims to provide a sensory haven of comfort and respite. By touching, holding and even crawling inside of the nest, viewers are invited to reflect on their relationships with their natural environments. This
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL AWARD WINNER At last, You Become Me. At last, I Become You (2024) Through this project, I aim to visually reflect the process of exploring personal uniqueness while encompassing both tradition and modernity. Minhwa, as
sixteen years away. My digital painting series sixteen years away, draws from my experiences being an expat until adulthood and the sense of distance in growing up. Each of my paintings, focuses on the coming-of-age journey, highlighting moments of self-discovery,
Heidi Kwong is an emerging ceramic artist currently completing her Bachelor of Arts in Ceramics at RMIT. Originally from Hong Kong, she found solace in clay as respite from her corporate career, using it as a meditative practice amidst the
Garland Membership Award. UNSETTLED LIVING. My grandparents said to never buy a house near a willow tree. They said its roots weep as the branches do. Tendrils seek the pipes, entangle themselves in the foundations. Fighting blindly for life,
Huihua Gu (b.2003) is an emerging multi-disciplinary artist who focuses on painting and sculpturing. He also explores tremendous areas and ideas, always maintains curiosity, and contemplates with everything and processes. Fascinated by history and events, he shares and discusses them
CONTENT NOTE: reference to gender-based violence. This work was created on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. I’m not the first, nor am I the last. In my lineage— I’m
LANDSCAPES AND TREPIDATION. Utilising a combination of oil paint on wood and paper, my works explore the complexities of human fear through a feminist lens. My practice, through alternative mediums and eerie subject matter, explores the anxieties associated with fear
JACK WILLET STUDIO VISIT AWARD WINNER A SLEEPWALK FROM ME TO YOU. When sleep becomes me, I dream of walking from me to you; how the sun kisses my eyes before I can kiss your cheek; I find my waking
Print Council of Australia Graduate Award My practice explores the intersections of identity, culture, and landscape through the print medium. Inspired by the aesthetics of zines, pop culture, and historical art, my works aims to reflect the cultural narrative around
“Obscenity begins when there is no more stage […] A good illusion is a bad illusion, and a bad illusion is a good illusion” —Jean Baudrillard, Art and Artefact. My practice often plays with the associative pathways evoked by the
I make art to better understand myself and my place in the world. Belonging in the expanded field of ceramics, my practice aims to push material and process boundaries through material agency and experimentation. My current body of work uses
Troppo Print Studio Graduate Award FOR YOUR PLEASURE. Throughout my creative practice, I aim to challenge the traditional conventions of art and identity, often working with unconventional materials and imagery I intend to redefine the measures of fine art.
Beyond the Uncertainty is a mixed-medium animation project that explores the concept of uncertainty and the experience of having those feelings, while also searching how one gets out of it. This artwork is an autobiography that centres around my personal
WILD COMBINATION focuses on the act of ‘authoring’ and ready-made simulacra. Wild Combination reflects on the immateriality of memory, the arduous effort of capturing them and the difficulty and romance of remembering. Part installation, part sculpture, part confessional, part ‘screenplay’
HYPHENATED SPACE. As a print-maker and mixed-media artist, my work navigates the evolving relationship between heritage and modernity, shaped by my experience of living across cultural boundaries. With a focus on themes of identity, diaspora, and the sense of being
Lost in Translation is an autoethnographic journey through the visual iconography of mid-century design and domestic space. Combining nostalgia with visual elements of uncanny disorientation, I aim to create images that appear decorative yet are charged with an underlying narrative
Winner: Wayne Conduit Award. When I watch a coming of age film, I feel seen. When I watch an action film, I feel like I can do anything. When I watch a tragedy, I feel the sadness lingering. Film
Minerals is an installation characterised by mirror-polished bronze forms, placed in harmony with large natural stones. The work aims to reconnect viewers with their inherent relationship to nature by tensioning the delicate treatment and preciousness of bronze, against the solidity,
‘This shelter is always open, this shelter is always ready to receive, this shelter offers you the most precious gift.’ Kepsibel’s creative practice is characterised by a repetitive and ritualistic engagement with the material world. Unbound by a commitment to
Winner – 2024 RMIT Gold & Silversmithing Technology Prize (presented by Australian Jewellers Supplies) Lachlan Vasic is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist, forming sculptures and objects through his practice of gold and silversmithing. He is inspired by day-to-day urban landscapes and
Winner – 2024 RMIT Gold & Silversmithing Studio Prize Laura de Carteret is a French-Australian artist based in Melbourne, Australia. They started glass blowing in 2021 through the Ruth Allen Glass traineeship program and since then have incorporated glass
Technician’s / Studio Karma Graduate Award My practice is informed by research and concept and is constantly evolving as I lean into different modes of making, depending on my project. Currently, I am working with sculpture, installation, and print media
Redrafting Reality: Exploring Architectures through Memory and Fantasy In this project I explore the interplay of reality and imagination, combining strict architectural norms with fanciful elements. Inspired by my family’s experience of migration and their memories, I create works that
Winner – 2024 RMIT Gold & Silversmithing Studio Prize Since 2020, Letitia has shown abroad, with her work exhibited in group shows at OCAD University in Canada, Dunedin School of Art in New Zealand, and another group show curated
So you know, I’m all yours… represents a devotion of love without shame, a dedication of my entire self to the interplay of queer love and sports. So you know, I’m all yours… is a love letter left unsent, a
Revolting. My name is Lillian Catriona Flügge. I am a silversmith in training studying BA Gold & Silversmithing here at RMIT. In my final work, the Revolting series pays tribute to the music and fashion subcultures that have shaped me.
Lize Myburgh aims to capture that moment when the dust settles and the silence sets in—a moment of quiet devastation where the damage of flooding is still fresh and the weight of recovery feels overwhelming. For her Bachelor of Fine
FAMILIAR FACES. This linocut wallpaper will turn any room into a vibrant, artistic setting with its vibrant colours and captivating faces. The dynamic faces and the palette’s cheerful vitality infuse a space with personality, making it feel both artistic and
ISQUARED GALLERY EXHIBITION AWARD WINNER ALLEGORICAL AND INNATE GESTURES OF THE HAND is engaged with intuitive modes of making and the symbolic possibility of images. I explore ideas with a multi-disciplinary approach. This encompasses drawing, painting, collage and fabric
Madelyn McKenzie is a ceramic artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her work is inspired by the decorative arts, traditions in particular Victorian-era wrought iron. She uses paperclay to create her structures and challenges traditional ceramic hand-forming techniques. Madelyn’s feminist perspective informs
Everchanging and Ephemeral: Exploration of phenomenological experiences in nature. In my practice, I’m interested in the study of phenomenology. I’m especially drawn to expressing my experiences in natural environments. I grew up in a small town on the South Coast
Garland Membership Award. Fugitive memories: I’ve watched you my whole life, now I see you. ‘The fragments re-emphasise subjectivity, due to their apparent incompleteness. Fragmented, the self is able to appear and disappear. Fragmentation mirrors the way we experience the
I use polymer clay and metal combined with each other. Soft polymer clay is wrapped on the stable form of metal, or polymer clay is squeezed into the space of metal, and finally the polymer clay is hardened by heating
Print Council of Australia Graduate Award Michelle is a Melbourne based artist, specialising in printmaking, photography and alternative practices.Her work is deeply influenced by her experiences of traumatic memory. Michelle’s work is a profound exploration of her life experiences,
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL AWARD WINNER Reframing perception. As a proud Italian Aboriginal from the Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta people, I enforce change in the art world by reframing the perception of Aboriginal art. My acrylic paintings are my
‘where water and earth resonate; ජල තරංගා’ is inspired by Sri Lankan clay jugs that store water. This interaction between materials infuses the water with an earthy taste and scent. The inspiration for the work emerged from a childhood memory,
The Un-gendered Object: An exploration of abjection and identity through art practice. “Human perception of the body is so acute and knowledgeable that the smallest hint of a body can trigger recognition.” —Jenny Saville (Gagosian, n.d.). Molly Baker (b.2001) is
HIGHLY COMMENDED I went to the Underworld and when I came back Someone else came back with me I heard the wind whispering in them Where dreams have no end My practice is involved with syntax,
Echoes of Color. My work explores the subtle ways in which color affects human emotion and perception through the unique lustre and texture of enamel. The texture of enamel mimics the delicacy of porcelain and the lustre of gemstones, bridging
Winner – Koodak Award for Highest Academic Achievement (presented by Koodak Jewellery Supplies) The Whispers of Nature. When we feel saddened or troubled by the breath of life, we can open our eyes to discover the healing beauty around
AN INBETWEENNESS OF TIME reflects that great feeling of loss, where time seemingly slips through our fingers. These ceramic sculptures reflect on the things we lose to time, and that grasping plea we hold within ourselves to make things, people
My artistic practice centers on printmaking, focusing on artist books and sculptural art objects inspired by the natural world and the dynamics of human-animal relationships. This project is inspired by my pet python, Plantbeetle, and the negative reactions I often
On losing oneself, or the breaking and healing of the soul. There is memory in every fragment. A fragment of paper, a fragment of history. Pieces of myself left behind, gifted to every place, every person. There is grounding
PRASASTI KELUARGA, translated as ‘Family Inscription,’ is part of my journey to explore, relearn, reclaim, and reinterpret my Javanese culture and heritage. As a nomadic Javanese, I often feel detached from the core of my cultural identity. My family and I hail
Separating the Heavens and Earth investigates the basic elements that impress on us visually: pattern, shape, colour, story, and within all these things, balance. Printmaking as a medium creates images through what is taken away and what is left, making
Winner – Emily Hope Award for Figurative Work (donor Professor AD Hope Endowment) Growing up on the Mornington Peninsula, I have always had a close relationship with nature; the ocean has long instilled a sense of wonder and contemplation.
Artbox Commission Graduate Award The Assembly Line is a series of figurative monotype prints on fabric, wrapped around handmade frames. The figures within are Australians and Afghans, farmers, soldiers, mothers and ravers. Through its diverse portraits, The Assembly Line depicts the
My project, (Un)filtered Acts, explores the paradoxical tension between smoking as both a symbol of rebellion and an abject, harmful reality. My feminist-oriented practice has long involved exploring the human body, now extending to a deep interest in smoking culture.
My artistic work began with an ache – an absence shaped by distance and the subtle weight of diaspora. Living away from home, I felt an underlying urge to adapt, blend, and reshape myself to fit in. Yet, through this
Australian Print Workshop Residency Award WHAT A RELIEF. The phrase ‘chook scratches’ sometimes refers to ‘untidy, organic marks’. What a Relief is a humorous response to three years of printmaking studies. I have created layered photographic etchings using images from
BRITTLE AND TRANSPARENT LIKE GLASS contemplates my mixed Japanese and Anglo-Australian heritage, exploring the abstract space that exists between these two cultures. Navigating this duality, I confront the intricate emotions of shame and pride tied to my cultural identity, often
DEMETER’S LAMENT. Demeter’s Lament is a sculptural composition of entwined material energy from deep ecological time reconstructed into an offering for the post-industrial age, where Ontology and the Anthropocene intertwine in an alchemical expression of materiality. Drawing from Greek mythology,
621 ARTSPACE EXHIBITION AWARD WINNER Suggestion. Records of emotion by Sean Leegel.
HIGHLY COMMENDED MOMENTS CALLING ACROSS AN EMPTY ROOM. A teacher once told me in a drawing class, that people are obsessed with time: “You ask someone if they’d like a cup of Tea, and they check their watch first.” This
My studio work in this exhibition focuses on the grid and how it can be used to recreate an image, both accurately and abstractly. Using the grid as a method for tracing an image onto a different scale and surface
Learning Through Unlearning: The abandonment of Ideas and Embracing Process-Based Painting My work is guided by my interest in deepening the connection of the artist to medium relationship, investigating possibilities that are presented to me through intuitive methods. With a
Sunshine Print Artspace Graduate Award Reflections of Light in Time is formed through the combination of traditional copper plate etching and experimental photographic techniques. This work stemmed from viewing reflections of car brake lights on a wet road; this fleeting
Through the series Dream States, Sofya investigates the relationship between dreams and reality, as well as mental and physical states. She uses distortion and exaggeration of colour and proportion, in combination with contrast between vivid and clear, and hazy and
My practice takes up space, it exhausts itself emotionally, and tears its own heart out. Obsessions and emotions are pinned down temporarily or cut up and recreated. It is a way of finding my voice and looking back before moving
From embroidering the earth’s mantle to embodying the earth’s core: a note to the spinner. While it is wedged often in discomfort, it, like us, is the product of stellar aspirations; one of a time long ago. I rest here
Offcuts and Fragments is a series of assemblages exploring the beauty found in remnants, including the leftover metal material found by me around my space and in the shared studio spaces. This material often goes unnoticed in creative processes. The
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.” –Georgia O’Keeffe. My painting series, Thoughtful Chaos, delves into the joyful physicality of painting, embracing spontaneity and instinct
COMING ONTO ME: AWAY FROM ME. I want to write you a love letter. This project considers desire, and discomfort. ‘Often it is the desire between us and the object of desire that fills the space in between with
BLIND FAITH. Walk through the desert for 1000 miles. Feel the steps of your body as you do, the shift of your clothes as they brush against your body. Your truest protection against the beating sun that betrays no cardinal
‘Sew, what’s wrong with you?’ is a large-scale soft sculpture installation work, using humour and the Pop Art style to engage with topics of pain, disability and medical spaces in a light-hearted way. I am a multi-disciplinary artist working in
Timo Walters is a sculptural artist whose work explores the imaginative potential to reconstruct human subjectivities and narratives by investigating the interconnectedness of things. As humans become increasingly connected and knowledgeable, the absurdities of our interpretations of reality are brought
Winner: Trocadero Art Space Exhibition Award. http://www.trocaderoartspace.com.au/ Highly Commended: ACAE Gallery. https://acaearts.com.au/ I lift my heart with my hands into the night sky, Hanging it on the crescent moon. The heart feels soft and fluffy, almost weightless. Looking down, I
My research is related to memory, and I collected many memories and images from my childhood and recollections. My collection reveals around ‘dreamcore’ and desserts from my childhood, the millennial generation, there were very many drink and dessert shops, and
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Highly Commended ACAE Gallery. Highly Commended Tolarno Award. _________________________________ The Unseen Energy. “Non-be-ing (wu) is the beginning of the heavenly and the earthly; 無名天地之始 Be-ing (you) is the mother of all myriad things. 有名萬物之母” My creative exploration delves into the
