2023 Art Prize Winners

Keep your hand clean

Linh Dinh
8, Queensland.

You should keep your hands clean to avoid germs.

Coexistence

Ethan Zheng
11, Victoria

When Covid-19 came to us in 2019, we had to do some things to stop it from spreading. We stayed away from other people, wore masks, and used hand sanitizer. We had to study at home instead of going to school, and our mom and dad had to work from home too.

Scientists from all over the world were trying to make a medicine to kill the virus, and they finally made one. But the virus changed, so they had to make a different medicine.

Now, it’s been more than three years, and we’re starting to realize that Covid-19 will be around for a long time. So, we have to learn how to live with it. But the good news is that we’re doing a good job so far!

Moira Burke
Victoria

Taking a lighthearted approach to a serious subject, ‘Sheetmusic For Prevention and Recovery…’ is a complex pun that explores prevention of and recovery from illness caused by Covid-19.

Fully vaccinated, I had avoided Covid until late last year. Though my bout was mild and my recovery swift, it was a horrible experience. I was miserable and thought one way to cheer myself up would be to do some drawings with coloured pencils.

Whilst in the studio looking for my pencils, a leaf of aged sheet music paper fell from a book I’d picked up. I lay in bed, colouring in the staves to make a pleasing pattern, a self-prescribed rehabilitation task. As I was doing so I was considering the entire orchestra of players that went into the creation of the life-saving Covid-19 vaccinations, the importance of bedrest and the role music can play in wellbeing.

Translating the pattern to tapestry is a nod to historical rehabilitation exercises, the candy-striped sheeting alludes to the importance of bed rest and the four striped panels – the orchestral movements – represent the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccination development and availability here in Melbourne.

Needlework, drawing, painting and printing, metal, string, canvas and linen all come into play when I construct imagery that explores the motivations behind human behaviours that direct our actions.

My feminist grounding underpins all my work. Crossing genres, switching mediums and rearranging expected narratives are an enjoyable aspect of my practice, resulting in nuanced works of multi-layered meanings.

Brad McKay
NSW

Infectious diseases are microscopic, but they affect our world at a macroscopic level. Our planet faces a persistent barrage of threats that are changing constantly, very similar to an embattled immune cell fighting off harmful pathogens.

The global population is slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s 2023 and we are living in a new era. Our recent experiences have transformed us and our world forever.

In this artistic project, instead of looking back on the past, I wanted to look forward to the future by embracing modern technology. I created this original artwork through the use of an artificially intelligent art program called ‘midjourney’. I deliberately limited my written instructions to the Immunisation Coalition’s theme, ‘Infectious diseases and our world’. The image obtained was then refined and shaped into the artwork I present today.

I am very satisfied with the final product because our world appears like an immune memory cell being attacked by external forces; altered but never defeated. Humanity is symbolised by the central protagonist wearing personal protective equipment, calmly striving to preserve themselves and our planet.