Congratulations to the winners and highly commended of the AWAPAs for 2022. This years nominations can be viewed here
BEST BOOK PRIZE
$1,000 sponsored by Professor Terry Smith, FAHA, CIHA
Judges Emeritus Professor Tony Bennett FAHA FAcSS and Emeritus Sasha Grishin AM FAHA
JOINT WINNER
Susan Ballard, Art and Nature in the Anthropocene: Planetary Aesthetics (New York: Routledge, 2021)
From the judges In proposing the perspective of ‘planetary aesthetics’ this immensely scholarly and clearly argued study proposes two major challenges for contemporary art histories. First, it establishes the case for a critical revision of the earlier traditions of art history and aesthetic theory associated with the period of the Holocene in view of their reliance on, and reproduction of, a radical separation of human/non-human forms of agency. Second, it traces the directions that such revisions have already taken, and foreshadows those still needing to be taken, in the light of current debates concerning the inextricable interconnectedness of human with non-human forms of agency associated with current debates around the concept of the Anthropocene. It also exemplifies what an art history responsive to the challenges of a ‘planetary aesthetic’ might look like. It does so by showing how a range of contemporary art practices, most notably in Australia and New Zealand, both unpick the intellectual, artistic and aesthetic underpinnings of human-nature separations that have propelled us into the Anthropocene and anticipate the new taxonomies and aesthetic regimes that might replace them. A landmark study probing issues of global significance from the perspective of a grounded engagement with local issues and practices.
JOINT WINNER
Louise Martin-Chew, Fiona Foley Provocateur: An Art Life (Brisbane: QUT Art Museum, 2021)
From the judges Dr Fiona Foley, a founding member of Boomalli Aboriginal Artist Co-operative, has for several decades influenced the course of Indigenous art in Australia. She has exhibited widely nationally and internationally and is represented in most major public art collections in Australia. Much of her art is concerned with ‘hidden histories’ – frontier wars, massacres, tales of dispossession and, more recently, an exploration of her Aboriginal heritage and the activities of missionaries on K’gari/Fraser Island.
Louise Martin-Chew’s monograph on Fiona Foley began as a PhD thesis at the University of Queensland (awarded 2019) and is built on a lengthy and close friendship with the artist. Although the book adopts the form of a biography, this is employed as a tool that thematically explores the artist’s thinking and development. It skilfully negotiates a cross-cultural framework between a non-Indigenous author and an Indigenous subject. The scholarship is outstanding, the text is lucid and the methodological approach is innovative and may serve as a model for further such studies. It is a refreshingly honest and engaging account of the life and work of one of Australia’s most significant artists.
BEST ANTHOLOGY PRIZE
$500 sponsored by the Australian Institute of Art History, University of Melbourne
Judges Professor Susan Best FAHA and Dr Toni Ross
JOINT WINNER
Naomi Stead, Tom Lee, Ewan McEoin and Megan Patty, After: The Australian Ugliness (Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria and Thames & Hudson, 2021)
From the judges An informative and lively reappraisal of a significant book of Australian social and cultural criticism: architect Robin Boyd’s The Australian Ugliness published in 1960. This weighty, plentifully illustrated and well–designed catalogue contains a mix of relatively short articles pitched to a general readership by architecture, urban planning and design scholars and practitioners, curators, artists and journalists. Many of the writings address the enduring purchase of Boyd’s trenchant satire of Australian urban design, while signalling where his high modernist vision seems outdated or questionable. One author quotes Boyd’s observation: ‘Australia throws old mattresses over the back fence,’ and notes how often these goods are discarded on streets today. Others amplify Boyd’s spotting of settler society’s pioneer ethos and unease with Australian nature as still playing out in the scorched earth approach of 21st Century developer driven outer suburbia. This publication is a fitting tribute to Boyd, while also addressing issues relevant to the Australian built environment today.
JOINT WINNER
Natalya Lusty (ed.), Surrealism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021)
From the judges Among the profusion of scholarly publications on Surrealism this anthology stands out by making a case for the legacy of the movement’s historical incarnations in 21st Century currents of art and cultural theory. While some essays flesh out different strands and changing ideas within the movement, others show how Surrealism prefigures various contemporary trends. These include ecological and animal philosophies; new materialist and object-orientated art and theory; anti- and decolonial cultural tendencies and present-day intersections of art and science. Most of the essays strike a fine balance between historical and theoretical explication. They are written by a range of experts both international and Australasian. Overall, the volume delivers on the editor’s claim to approach surrealism as an ‘expansive critical concept’ still echoing long after its historical heyday.
BEST ARTIST-LED PUBLICATION: ESSAY / CATALOGUE / BOOK PRIZE
$500 supported by Monash Art Design & Architecture, Monash University
Judges Associate Professor Martyn Jolly and Associate Professor Robert Nelson
Overall the entrants were all of very high quality. All combined rigorous scholarship with original arts research. Many were polyvocal, bringing together different points of view and fragmentary often archival sources. Many made use of imaginative book design to integrate the various elements creatively.
WINNER
Julie Gough, Tense Past (Nipaluna Hobart: Tebrikunna Press, 2021)
From the judges Based on a major retrospective at TMAG, this production was the ‘complete package’ from its faux ‘colonial’ binding to its detailed exhibition floor plan. Like many entrants it integrated extensive original historical scholarship, a poignant moral narrative and contemporary art production, which gave the work a memorable gravitas. Text and image were intricately interconnected, so readers do not lose their way, and art production and historical scholarship consistently informed each other. Different paper stock was used effectively and not gratuitously, to produce an extremely powerful object.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Gail Hastings, Space Practising Tools (Melbourne: Pigment Publishing, 2021)
From the judges This artist’s book wittily instantiates the formalist principles it methodically elucidates. It is meticulously complete down to every detail, and the artist’s personal creative style is satisfyingly sustained across 116 pages. The book’s design, referencing modernist manuals, delivers the pleasure of several gentle jokes, such as the afterimage produced when the reader is invited to stare at a black dot on a white page. While being an integral aesthetic object, the book successfully calls in the conceptual references points that had informed Hasting’s practice as an artist.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Ruth Buchanan, Aileen Burns & Johan Lundh and Hanahiva Rose (eds.), Uneven Bodies (Ngāmotu New Plymouth: Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 2021)
From the judges This reader effectively edited together diverse international texts that grew out of an exhibition symposium at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Although only textual, the reader effectively used the structure of the exhibition to organise the short essays, interviews, and transcripts. All of the texts were grounded in actual curatorial and art practice, and many dealt with tough postcolonial issues head on, meaning the reader will continue to be a very useful resource. The book has a readable, presumably inexpensive design, which seems congruent with a public event exploring social and historical relations with art.
BEST ART WRITING BY AN INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN
$500 prize money + new writing commission supported by Art Monthly
Judges Michael Fitzgerald and Associate Professor Donna Leslie
WINNER
Julie Gough, Tense Past (Nipaluna Hobart: Tebrikunna Press, 2021)
From the Judges Powerfully evocative of the past, Julie Gough’s ‘The Process of Disclosure’ reveals hidden histories that are timely and important to give readers today insights into the intergenerational experience of Tasmanian Aboriginal people’s narratives of genocide and survival. Gough pulls together the threads of her own history to create a fine fabric of strength and resilience evident in the artist’s contemporary practice.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Fiona Foley, Bogimbah Creek Mission: The First Aboriginal Experiment (Brisbane: Pirri Productions, 2021)
From the Judges Fiona Foley’s ‘Bogimbah Creek Mission: The First Aboriginal Experiment’ represents an intensely felt journey into Queensland’s past, uncovering truths that have long been forgotten and discarded, as part of the artist’s ongoing project that is also deeply personal and generous in spirit.
BEST ART WRITING BY A NEW ZEALAND MĀORI OR PASIFIKA
$500 sponsored by Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Judges Associate Professor Ngarino Ellis and Gina Tawhai Matchitt
WINNER
Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku, Donna Campbell, Nathan Pōhio and Awhina Tamarapa, Te Puna Waiora: The Distinguished Weavers of Te Kāhui Whiritoi (Ōtautahi Christchurch: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puno o Waiwhetū, 2021)
From the judges Te Puna Waiora begins with informative introductory essays on mātauranga raranga (knowledge about plaiting) including mana wahine (the power of women), Te Whare Pora (the House of Weaving) and the history of the Te Kāhui Whiritoi. Each of the writers bring their own perspectives to Te Puna Waiora. The book contains insightful interviews and personal kōrero (stories) directly from the weavers or their hapū (family). These recollections include early memories as tamariki (children) of gathering, watching and making with nannies and aunties, to the kōrero of those whose raranga (plaiting) journeys developed in later life. All reference kairaranga (plaiting artists) who were influential on each weaver’s practice. The range of customary and contemporary materials are brought to life in the detailed photographic close ups. These images enable the reader to see the materials magnified and how the works are constructed. The variety of works and display of innovation is magnificent. A must have book for weavers and textile enthusiasts alike.
BEST SCHOLARLY ARTICLE IN THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF ART
$500 sponsored by the Power Institute, University of Sydney
Judges Dr Jesse Adams Stein and Associate Professor Linda Tyler
WINNER
Mingyuan Hu, ‘Language and Art History’, Australian & New Zealand Journal of Art, 21: 1 (2021) pp. 41-57
From the judges With a deceptively plain title that gives away nothing of its sophistication, Mingyuan Hu’s article deftly weaves together the state of play for Chinese art history and art education, alongside translation insights and personal reflection, to make a compelling argument. Drawing on her experiences in departments of art history at Glasgow and Leeds, Hu explains how when theory predominated, skills of formal analysis were lost. She calls for teaching critical thinking about the subject to be linked with close looking at Chinese art itself.
Hu also asks us to think about what the universalisation of art history has done to our understanding of Chinese art, forcing it into categories. As art historians, we have become linguistically conditioned when looking at art, and lack sufficient vocabulary to discuss Chinese art adequately, she contends. A translator herself, she points to how translations are merely approximations.
All the concepts we use to study Chinese art are derived from western art history. While scholars such as Wu Hung argue that western art history has been used to delegitimise the Chinese literati discourse on art, Hu describes how she deploys Chinese writings on landscape painting in her teaching to illuminate how rhetoric was used to explain picture-making, well before Vasari. Comparative images confound students’ expectation of what Chinese art looks like in her classroom, and this prompts students to consider the way they might have been taught to see art as having national characteristics. Discussions of pedagogy like this are rare.
A graceful review of the scholarly literature by Martin Powers and Craig Clunas concludes with Hu agreeing with the latter that Hegel’s pitting of the “dynamic East” against the “static West” is responsible for Ernst Gombrich’s assertion in the 1950 Story of Art that Chinese artists dared not stray from tradition into innovation. There are also moments of gentle humour in the article. She quotes another of Gombrich’s misapprehensions, and concludes that the eminent Austrian art historian may never have heard of kung fu.
Hu’s approach is personal and reflective, without ever losing a research-led edge. She subtly critiques western art historians’ tendencies towards “self-flagellating agony”, urging us to avoid smug virtue signaling: “attack less those who might have known better”. Instead, Hu urges, we ought to turn our attention outward in a tolerant manner, “one that values learning for its own sake, one that values dialogue”. Chinese art threatens the linear notion of European art history, but she cautions against “correcting” Eurocentricism since Sinocentricism also essentialises. With its broadranging and interdisciplinary approach, this is the work of a consummate cultural cosmopolitan.
BEST UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
$1,000 sponsored by University Art Museums Australia
Judges Dr Wendy Garden and Dr Sarah Scott
JOINT WINNER
Charlotte Day and Melissa Ratliff (eds.), Tree Story (Melbourne: Monash University Museum of Art and Monash University Publishing, 2021)
From the judges Tree Story addresses critical environmental and sustainable issues bringing together creative practices from around the world to create a ‘forest’ of ideas. It incorporates Indigenous ways of knowing and clearly responds to the question posed: ‘What can we learn from trees and the importance of Country?’ through the work of both local and international artists. Penetrating interviews combine with erudite and thought-provoking essays. We particularly commend Nick Modrzewski’s text, a piece of creative writing that poignantly conveys the ‘slippery slope’ of contemporary attitudes and the insightful interview between Brian Martin and Brook Andrew. This is an ambitious, complex and innovative publication.
JOINT WINNER
Hannah Mathews and D Harding (eds.), Dale Harding: Through a lens of visitation (Melbourne: Monash University Museum of Art and Powered by Power, 2021)
From the judges Dale Harding: Through a lens of visitation considers the relationship between the Bidjara, Ghungalu and Garingbal artist, his mother (artist Kate Harding) and the Bidjara and Garingbal/Karingbal peoples from the Carnarvon Gorge area, whilst also responding to the concept of visitation to the Gorge by Modernist artists, notably Margaret Preston and Sidney Nolan. Bidjara and Birri Guba Juru scholar Dr Jackie Huggins’ essay from 1993 on her Mother’s country at Carnarvon Gorge provides a penetrating questioning of non-Aboriginal visitation to the Gorge, and remains as relevant as ever. Clever design elements identify Huggins’ essay from recent writing, including essays by Deborah Edwards, Nancy Underhill and Ann Stephen that astutely interrogate modernist responses to the land. At the nexus of scholarly research and art practice, this publication offers compelling essays that express a desire for more constructive modes of existence to acknowledge the synergies and intersections between previously separated histories.
BEST LARGE EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
$500 sponsored by the Australian Institute of Art History, University of Melbourne
Judges Kendrah Morgan and Dr Sheridan Palmer
In making this assessment the judges took into consideration originality and clarity of ideas, scholarly rigour, and contribution to knowledge, impact and production quality.
JOINT WINNER
Elle Freak, Dušan and Voitre Marek: Surrealists at Sea (Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia, 2021)
From the judges A richly layered and previously untold cultural narrative unfolds in this beautifully designed and produced catalogue that considers the under-acknowledged contributions of émigré modernist artists Dušan and Voitre Marek. Extensive original research informs the collection of insightful essays, which explore and contextualise the brothers’ abiding commitment to Surrealism from the time of their early exposure to the avant garde in pre-war Prague to their lived experience and respective creative careers in Australia. The notion of voyage is a binding thread throughout, while the themes of forced immigration and a search for a sense of place and belonging have continuing relevance.
JOINT WINNER
Petra Kayser (ed.), Goya: Drawing from the Prado (Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2021)
From the judges This elegantly designed catalogue comprehensively covers the unparalleled and remarkable large exhibition of Goya’s works on paper. The extensive range of essays balances rigorous yet accessible curatorial scholarship with engaging personal commentaries by contemporary journalists and writers such as Colm Tóibín and war correspondent Eric Campbell. Richly illustrated, with exceptional production values, the publication illuminates diverse aspects of this brilliant European artist’s humanistic and satiric oeuvre and offers fresh and thought-provoking perspectives on his achievements.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Nici Cumpston and individual project authors. Barry Patton (ed.), Tarnanthi (Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia, 2021)
From the judges Artists’ voices and stories come through strongly and respectfully in this publication celebrating the sixth year of Tarnanthi and the diversity and vitality of contemporary First Nations art, ideas and cultural knowledge sharing across Australia. Nici Cumpston and Lisa Slade’s introductory text provides a robust framework for the engaging array of illustrated artwork texts and personal narratives that vividly answer Tarnanthi’s call to ‘rise forth, to keep moving and inventing’.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Sue Cramer with Nicholas Chambers (eds.), Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings (Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021)
From the judges The extraordinary story of the previously marginalised, visionary Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862 – 1944), some of whose purely abstract compositions predate Kandinsky’s, is explored in depth and given its due in this sensitively designed and beautifully illustrated catalogue. A collection of cogent and nuanced texts and accompanying images contribute new information and insights to the growing literature on Af Klint and her ground-breaking practice, drawing attention to some of the lesser-known aspects of her output.
BEST MEDIUM EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
$500 sponsored by the Australian Institute of Art History, University of Melbourne
Judges Melissa Keys and Dr Ann Stephen FAHA
From the judges A highly competitive category with impressive catalogues from 8 solo and 4 group exhibitions. While entries from Australia outnumbered those from New Zealand, it was the intellectual rigour, originality of scholarship and excellent production values of New Zealand museum design and publishing that was outstanding.
The joint prize winners: Brett Graham: Tai Moana Tai Tangata, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, 2021; and Te Puna Wairoa: The distinguished Weavers of Te Kāhui Whiritoi, Christchurch Art Gallery T Puna o Waiwhetū, 2021, both communicate a profound knowledge of Maori aesthetics and deep cultural histories. Brett Graham’s extraordinary installation at Govett-Brewster brilliantly engages with histories of imperialism and global Indigenous art. While the 18 weavers exhibited at Christchurch Art Gallery testify to the creativity and innovation of Maori contemporary culture. We commend the many curators, designers authors and translators who contributed to celebrating the work of these extraordinary artists through such beautiful catalogues.
We would also like to make a special commendation to: D Harding There is no before, also published by Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 2021, which is an insightful kind of ‘field guide’ to encourage cross-cultural sharing.
JOINT WINNER
Anna-Marie White, Brett Graham: Tai Moana Tai Tangata (Ngāmotu New Plymouth: Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 2021)
JOINT WINNER
Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku, Donna Campbell, Nathan Pōhio and Awhina Tamarapa, Te Puna Waiora: The Distinguished Weavers of Te Kāhui Whiritoi (Ōtautahi Christchurch: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puno o Waiwhetū, 2021)
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Megan Tamati-Quennell (ed.), D Harding: There is No Before (Ngāmotu New Plymouth: Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Len Lye Centre, 2021)
BEST SMALL EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
$500 sponsored by the University of Melbourne
Judges Maurice O’Riordan and Dr Sally Quin
WINNER
Rebecca Rice and Matariki Williams, Ngā Tai Whakarongorua | Encounters (Wellington Te Whanganui-a-Tara: Te Papa Press, 2021)
From the judges A beautifully rendered transliteration of the exhibition both through the physical presentation and layout of the catalogue/book itself and its richly informative and accessible text. In mirroring the hang of the exhibition’s 36-piece portrait wall, the catalogue layout served as a sort of guided tour (in Māori and English) of the exhibition. As such the succinct texts for each portrait demonstrated deft scholarship relaying details of artist, subject/sitter, milieu and provenance and with additional sections highlighting ‘hidden’ insights revealed through material properties of the framed works and conservation processes. In line with this evident care of the object was an overall tone of sensitivity and sophistication towards the exhibition’s decolonising aspiration in assembling historic portraits of Māori, Pacific and European people together.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Stella Rosa McDonald, There We Were All in One Place (Sydney: University of Technology Sydney, 2021)
From the judges There We Were All in One Place presents analysis of five photographic series produced by Gunditjmara artist Hayley Millar Baker between 2016 and 2019. The publication is notable for the way in which the catalogue essays, which offer both critical and personal perspectives, illuminate the meaning of these complex photographic works which retell and reimagine Australian history from an Aboriginal (particularly Gunditjmara and Djabwurrung) point of view. The essays convey the particular power of the medium of photography to First Nations artists in interrogating the past; as well as the importance of oral traditions of storytelling, reflections of lived experience, and intergenerational bonds within the creative process. The simple and elegant book design allowed the black and white photographs to be viewed to best effect, and direction towards the exhibition’s educational material, which complemented the key themes of the catalogue, was a useful addition.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Oscar Capezio, Out of Place (Canberra: Drill Hall Gallery, 2021)
From the judges This modest staple-bound catalogue in a plastic sleeve (edition: 200) belied a curatorial project of considerable ambition and intellectual rigour. Curator Capezio’s key catalogue essay clearly showed the depth of his research into and engagement with his project which struck one as being essentially driven by the work rather than the other way around. This primacy for the artwork was reflected by the catalogue design with the essays forming a text supplement tucked inside the back sleeve of the ‘main’ catalogue documenting the work. Capezio’s text was ably and imaginatively supported by writing from Terence Maloon, Helen Ennis and Tom Melick. Ennis’s essay, a reprint from a 1994-’95 catalogue, also reflected the exhibition’s expansive investigation of the ‘contemporary’, drawing on work from 1979 to the present day (2021).
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