2015 RACT Insurance Portraiture Prize winner announced

The winner of the 2015 RACT Insurance Tasmanian Portraiture Prize (TPP) has been revealed, with a video installation focusing on immigration in Tasmania taking out the top award.

RACT Insurance TPP Judges Barbie Kjar, Jarrod Rawlins, and 2014 winner Cameron McRae deliberated right until the last moment, ultimately crowning Alasdair Doyle of West Hobart (above) the winner for his piece, titled ‘A World Apart, Not A World Away’.

RACT Insurance TPP judge and MONA curator Jarrod Rawlins said it took a lot of deliberation between the judges to name this year’s winner.

“Alasdair’s entry was a very interesting and timely piece which discusses some of the issues around immigration into Tasmania,” Mr Rawlins said.

“The piece is done with a bit of fun and a sense of humour but ultimately tackles a very serious issue.

“The decision to award the portraiture prize to a video work might come as a surprise to some people but his piece was simply outstanding.”

Mr Rawlins said the judges could not decide on a clear runner up this year and instead chose to award two runners up in Eliza Freeman from Wynyard for her piece entitled ‘My Father at Mount Roland Summit’ and Celine Lee of Launceston for her entry, ‘Warhead’ .

“Both Eliza and Celine’s entries are fantastically put together photographs and we just couldn’t bring ourselves to say one was more deserving of the runner up position than the other,” Mr Rawlins said.

Entrants were invited to paint a portrait of a living Tasmanian who is important to them and supply a statement describing the inspiration and meaning behind the work.

Tasmanian Portraiture Prize Organiser and RACT Insurance spokesperson Kylie Eastley said the overwhelming number of applicants and the high quality of their work made the decision incredibly difficult for the judges.

“We had a record number of entrants this year, with 75 young artists from around the state submitting works,” said Ms Eastley said.

“On behalf of RACT Insurance I would like to say how proud the organisation is to again be associated with the Tasmanian Portraiture Prize and its contribution to art and creativity in the state.

“As the only locally based insurance company in Tasmania, RACT Insurance are proud to support activities such as the TPP and I would like to acknowledge all the artists who entered this year.

“RACT insurance would like to especially congratulate the winner of the 2015 RACT Insurance Tasmanian Portraiture Prize, Alasdair Doyle, as well as runners-up Eliza Freeman and Celine Lee.

“As the proud sponsor of the competition, RACT Insurance would also like to acknowledge this year’s Sponsors Choice winner, Amber Koroluk-Stephenson, for her outstanding piece, titled ‘Assail (Sulphur Cockatoos)’.

“This award is decided by the staff of all the stakeholders involved in the TPP and I am sure Amber will be delighted that her piece has resonated with so many.”

Ms Eastley said while three category winners had now been announced, she urged everyone to view all the pieces and cast their votes for the People’s Choice Award.

“Voting for the 2015 RACT Insurance Tasmanian Portraiture Prize People’s Choice will close at the end of the exhibition season, with the winner announced on Monday, 2 February 2016, so I urge all Tasmanians to get along to the exhibitions and cast their votes at www.taspp.com.au,” she said.

“The winner of the Packers prize will also be announced at the opening of the exhibition tonight.”

RACT Insurance encourages all Tasmanians to come along and support the state’s emerging artists at the TPP exhibition in the Long Gallery in Hobart from 25 September – 4 October, the Devonport Regional Gallery from 24 October – 22 November and Sawtooth Gallery in Launceston from 27 November – 17 December 2015.

This year’s judging panel consisted of the 2014 RACT Insurance Tasmanian Portraiture Prize winner Cameron McRae, Tasmanian printmaker and artist Barbie Kjar, as well as MONA Curator Jarrod Rawlins.

The competition, now in its eighth year, was established to create a platform for emerging Tasmanian artists aged under 30 to exhibit their talents, while also developing a body of portraiture that reflects life in 21st century Tasmania.

As the winner of the 2015 RACT Insurance Tasmanian Portraiture Prize, Alasdair Doyle will receive $5000 in prize money as well as a trip for two to the Archibald Prize exhibition in Sydney, while runners up Eliza Freeman and Celine Lee will receive $2000 to assist with studio rent.

ARTIST STATEMENTS

WINNER – Alasdair Doyle
In the 2014-2015 Tasmanian State Budget, $16 million was allocated for tourism marketing to help increase the number of visitors to the State.
In contrast, $125,000 was committed to boost “Skilled and Business Migration.”
A World Apart, Not A World Away, the slogan of a former Tourism Tasmania campaign, highlights this discrepancy.

FIRST RUNNER UP – Eliza Freeman
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” – Leonard Cohen
I made this photograph of my Dad because we often go bushwalking together. This is from a particularly challenging climb last September. Despite having lived reasonably close to Mt Roland his whole life, my father had never climbed the mountain. Our legs hurt for three days afterwards.
This was printed with the last scraps of a ten metre roll of silver gelatin fibre based paper, but it’s my favourite image from the roll.

SECOND RUNNER UP – Celine Lee
Warhead is a series that explores a person’s awkward and uncanny facial expressions when they are faced with something uncomfortable. A collection of motionless portraits are being presented to show uniqueness in each expression, but to also show their similarities.
The main body of work is a large collection of faces that represent the true and unconcealed facial expression when eating a sour candy or lemon. The expressions that are being presented show a certain moment in time when people have no control of the way they look and how others look at them. In order to reduce noise and distractions from the messy expressions, each image is placed on the same coloured background.
When being faced with uncomfortable situations, the human instincts are to ‘fight or flight’. As shown in a separate but complimenting series, the water acts as a force that is uncontrollable, allowing the instinct of ‘flight’ to show from the model’s body language and facial expressions. This mini- series illustrates an opposite and juxtaposed relationship between the still, peaceful environment and the harsh, chaotic water movements and body language.
Awkwardness and humour will become the basis of each image, but at the same time the authenticity and truthfulness will be shocking and confronting in terms of their ugly looks.

SPONSORS CHOICE – Amber Koroluk-Stephenson
Assail depicts a lost unknown female figure being overcome by a flock of Cockatoos in the bush.
This work draws from Australian Colonial paintings by artists such as Frederick McCubbin, whereby the subject is overcome by the harsh nature of the Australian landscape.
‘Nature strikes back’ as these birds advance on this modern day damsel in an attempt to make claim of their natural habitat.
Tasmanian Portraiture Prize Organiser and RACT Insurance spokesperson Kylie Eastley