The Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (or SOYA for short) is Australia’s leading grants program for emerging creative talent, providing opportunities for bright sparks aged 30 and under in a range of categories spanning music, fashion, architecture and more. Entries for the Visual Arts category have now closed, with ten unbelievably creative and immensely talented artists being hand-picked as this year’s SOYA finalists.
With literally hundreds of submissions in this category, Mark Feary of ArtSpace had the tricky task of whittling the shortlist down to the top ten. One of these artists will be crowned the winner at the end of June, and will be awarded a $5000 grant and a mentorship with MCA Director Liz Ann McGregor and The Edinburgh Art Festival. Translation: life changing opportunities.
So without further ado, here are the ten finalists for the Visual Arts category. Judge/Mentor Liz Ann has a tough decision ahead of her:
Daniel McKewen (QLD)
McKewen re-edits multiple elements from film, television, print and online media in order to create transformative digital video works. These explore McKewen as both an artist and a fan of popular culture in conjunction with the impacts these roles have on his consumption of media.
Greatest Hits (VIC)
This trio of artists create mixed media works that explore the cyclical relationship between culture, media and technology. Their previous work has included dispersing the scent of a new Apple MacBook Pro (replicated by a scent marketing company) with a diffuser as part of an installation.
Matthew Shannon (VIC)
Working across robotics, animation, video and cartoons, Shannon’s work is triggered by the investigation of images to compose explorations of their notions and ideas. He likens these works to condensed essays in a form other than writing.
Bethany J Fellows (VIC)
Fellows works are usually located external to the gallery space in situational and non-traditional environments. She highlights interactions between people and space, utilising the actions of gift giving and good humour as catalysts for dialogue with complete strangers.
Biljana Jancic (NSW)
Jancic creates large scale sculptures, often utilising industrial materials. Embracing light and the use of lines, she is interested in the construction of meaning through mood and ambience.
Jacqueline Ball (VIC)
Working with materials including cardboard, clay, plaster and metal, Ball’s photography transforms and manipulates the surfaces of these everyday materials to accentuate form and generate reflections to capture spatial relationships.
Stella Rosa McDonald (NSW)
Through the use of video, performance and text, McDonald highlights how histories are shaped . Her previous work Self-Titled was a mash-up narrative composed of biographies provided by the artist’s family to explore the image she has self-created through her own family.
Julia deVille (VIC)
As a trained jeweller and taxidermist, deVille explores themes related to death reflecting Victorian sentiments. Through her creation of a collection of funerary urns designed to hold the ashes of deceased loved ones, she comments on society’s detachment from death.
Elise/Jürgen (Elise Harmsen & Jürgen Kerkovius) (NSW)
This collaborative duo often show their work in group, festival and project based environments. Exploration of themes such as communication and responses of the body are captured through video that they describe as being influenced by Experimental and Structuralist film.
Tully Arnot (NSW)
Arnot explores material and form, exploring what these mean in terms of invention and function. He transforms everyday objects into artwork, as seen in his previous work Cucumber Glasses, glasses carved from a single cucumber. Talk about a pair of cool shades! (Sorry).
Words By Nikki Brogan
Main image of “Nevermore” by Julia DeVille
