Over the last 17 years, the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize has emerged as an important annual survey of contemporary photographic practice in Australia and one of the most prestigious prizes in the country. Every year Monash Gallery of Art (MGA) invites artists to submit photo-based media including analogue and digital photography created over the last year for consideration.
Acclaimed artist Rosemary Laing and Director of Agency and Senior Curator, Museums and Collections at University of Melbourne, Hannah Presley joined MGA Director Anouska Phizacklea to select the winner and three Colour Factory Honourable Mentions from a shortlist of 54 exceptional works that form the 2022 edition of the Bowness Photography Prize. Melbourne artist Amos Gebhardt has been awarded $30,000 for their winning work ‘Wallaby’ (2022) and the work will be acquired into MGA’s nationally significant collection of Australian photographs.
Gebhardt’s photographic work has been selected four times in the last five years as a finalist for the Bowness Photography Prize. Gebhardt’s photographic practice is characterised through a bold vision, conceptual rigour and an innovative approach to the medium. Recent acclaimed series include There are no others (2016), which features gender diverse people floating in celestial space; Evanescence (2018), which depicts human collectives suspended in contested landscapes; Small acts of resistance (2021), which celebrates queer familial entanglement; and most recently ‘Wallaby’, where Gebhardt has integrated x-ray and satellite imaging to explore themes of trauma and sentience.Gebhardt’s sustained and continued practice of producing work that is visually rich is epitomised by a courageous commitment to agitate dominant narratives around marginality, representation, queerness and more than human ecologies.
Colour Factory Honourable Mentions were awarded to Petrina Hicks for her arresting and provocative exploration of motherhood in ‘Hercules’ (2021); Danie Mellor for the haunting and moving large-scale work that incorporates archival and recent infra-red imagery to addresses the rich cultural traditions connected with Country and the history of photographic images that helped to shape the development of Australian colonial and settler identity in ‘The far country’ (2022); and Sonia Payes for her work ‘Exoplanet 1’ (2022) which is an otherworldly evocation of volcanic forces that explode and rip into the earth’s core.
‘Amos Gebhardt’s ‘Wallaby’ sits at the boundaries of photography and taps into its inner core – refractions of light. It is an incredibly complex and poetic work. In one image the artist focuses on the untimely death of an individual creature and yet locates its significance within the cosmos. It asks us to consider life and death and the nature of sentient beings. We are delighted to welcome Gebhardt’s practice and their work ‘Wallaby’ into MGA’s Collection’ – Anouska Phizacklea, MGA Director
‘Seeing all of the participants work together in the flesh is a special opportunity. It’s been a tad onerous to formally single out a few, when they are alongside substantially numerous outstanding practices. Thank you and congratulations to all participants, and on this occasion, especially Amos, Petrina, Danie and Sonia.’ – Rosemary Laing, artist
‘It has been a wonderful experience working with Rosemary and the MGA team and an enjoyable process discussing each entry, to curate a thoughtful selection of works that celebrate photography. Congratulations to everyone involved, keep creating and exploring your craft.’ – Hannah Presley, Director of Agency and Senior Curator, Museums and Collections at University of Melbourne
About the artist
Amos Gebhardt (1976– ) attained a Masters in Direction at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in 2006 and has since developed an artistic practice that revolves around large-scale moving image installations and photography, incorporating collaborations with performers, choreographers and sound artists. Exploring intersections between culture, nature, resistance and entanglement, Gebhardt narrates both human and beyond-human worlds. Gebhardt has exhibited widely, including at the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art and M+ Museum for Visual Culture in Hong Kong, and has been recognised through multiple awards, grants and residencies, such as the National Photography Prize and the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award.
Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award
Smith & Singer (previously Sotheby’s Australia) became the proud sponsor of the People’s Choice Award in 2018. Smith & Singer is Australia’s premium fine art dealership facilitating the purchase and sale of important historical, modern and contemporary Australian and international art. Their significant philanthropic support of the Bowness Photography Prize is a reflection of the national and historic importance of this prize and the MGA Foundation is profoundly grateful. Voting for the Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award is open until the last day of the exhibition, Sunday 13 November 2022.
Wai Tang Commissioning Award
The Wai Tang Commissioning Award has been established by her husband, Kee Wong, to recognise and honour her significant impact on the arts and preserve her legacy within MGA’s collection and exhibition history. One artist from the exhibition will be selected for the $10,000 award which will coincide with the 2023 Bowness Photography Prize exhibition season.
William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize | Exhibition open until 13 November 2022
Free entry, no booking required Tuesday–Friday 10am–5pm| Saturday–Sunday 10am–4pm
View all the 2022 Bowness Photography Prize finalists here
Vote in the Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award here
