The Werribee Art Gallery’s new art prize is up and running.
The Wyndham Art Prize, which will be judged by McClelland Gallery curator Penny Teale, is offering a $10,000 main prize, two Deakin University bursaries and a $2000 people’s choice award.
Wyndham councillor Bob Fairclough said the prize and exhibition, which opened last week, had the potential to become an annual event of national significance.
“This prize not only ensures visitors to the gallery will be able to view some high-calibre artwork, it also builds on Wyndham Art Gallery’s reputation as being one of Melbourne’s finest suburban art spaces,” he said.
The exhibition features works from artists as far away as New Zealand, and as close as Werribee.
Point Cook artist Helen Pallikaros hopes the inclusion in the exhibition of her photo collection, The Mourning Series, will raise her profile as an artist. The Mourning Series is a trio of self-portraits, each depicting Pallikaros with different “masks” or “guises”.
“It was an experiment in using myself in my work,” she said. “My work is about identity and gender and the feminine. It’s about more than creating an aesthetic piece – it’s about creating something with meaning.
“Doing art is my way of getting my message out there and telling my story.”
The Wyndham Art Prize exhibition is at the Wyndham Art Gallery, 177 Watton Street, Werribee, until June 28.
