‘Salmon Feast’ by Jess Coughlan Bags Art Award

Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 4 March 2024

Picture lamenting industrial salmon impact on waterways wins Art award

‘Salmon Feast’ by Jess Coughlan wins $2,000 award

An artwork ‘Salmon Feast’ that draws attention to the damaging impact of industrial salmon farms in Tasmanian waters has won the $2000 first prize in the big annual art awards in the Huon Valley.

The three independent judges, Gillian Grove, Lynne Uptin (OAM) and photographer, Matthew Newton, said the work represented an era of art that celebrated plenty but used the style to alter a viewer’s perception.

They said the photographical piece incorporated all the elements of a good art, in that it was beautiful, drew the viewer in and was political “in that it challenges the corporate narrative.”

The artist, Jess Coughlan, a campaigner with Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF), says the picture expresses the sense of outrage that many people in the Huon Valley feel about the impact on their waterways and marine life.

“The work includes many allusions to the impacts of European use of the land in Tasmania, notably noxious weeds, rotting apples and other details which most residents will recognise upon close inspection. It also references the other environmental impacts of salmon farming such as marine plastic waste and krill population decline,”

The Huon Arts Awards, mounted by the Huon Art Exhbition Group (HAEG), feature almost 300 works installed at the Cygnet Town Hall until March 17 and is open to the public.