This year’s $10,000 Wai Tang Commissioning Award has been granted to artist, Janelle Low, to present an exhibition of work at MGA in 2023.
© Janelle Low: Untitled III (from the family archives) 2021 from the series Disintegrate; courtesy of the artist and THIS IS NO FANTASY (Naarm/Melbourne).
The Wai Tang Commissioning Award has been established in memory of Wai Tang by Wai Tang’s husband, Kee Wong, to recognise and honour her significant impact on the arts. She served on MGA’s Committee of Management from 2018 until she passed away in 2020. The $10,000 award provides meaningful assistance for an artist to present an exhibition that will coincide with the 2023 Bowness Photography Prize exhibition season, with one work acquired into MGA’s significant collection of Australian photographs in honour of Wai Tang’s legacy. This year’s winner, Janelle Low, has exhibited nationally and internationally and her works are held in both public and private collections. The work she submitted for the Bowness Photography Prize ‘belongs to an ongoing series exploring familial ties, cultural loss and the nature of memory. Reworking archival family photographs, the processes used oscillate between taking control and letting go of control to evoke a sense of intimacy while simultaneously embodying distance as well.
Andrea Francolini has been awarded the 2022 Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award for his work ‘Read my lips’ (2022), which challenges the conventions of portrait photography while drawing attention to the mechanics of photographic production. The work claimed 14% of the vote making it a clear favourite. Thames & Hudson generously donated book prize packs to three lucky voters.
The Bowness Prize exhibition was on display at the Monash Gallery of Art until 13 November but images can still be seen on the gallery’s website. Click here for more information.
