In partnership with La Prairie
Together with the Art Gallery of NSW, La Prairie continues its mission to champion female-identifying artists through its La Prairie Art Award. In its second year, the award endeavours to recognise living Australian women artists who share in the same audacious, fearless and dynamic spirit La Prairie is known for. The inaugural winner was Melbourne-based South Sudanese and Ethiopian photographer, Atong Atem. This year, Arrernte and Kalkadoon artist Thea Anamara Perkins has been selected by Art Gallery of NSW Trustees, senior curatorial staff and La Prairie’s global Board of Directors, as the recipient of the La Prairie Art Award.
Hailing from a long lineage of First Nations activists, including grandfather Charles Perkins, aunty and filmmaker Rachel Perkins, and her mother and art curator Hetti Perkins, Thea Anamara Perkins' practice celebrates the strength of her family bonds, while depicting her deep love for Country.
Thea Anamara Perkins Bondi Beach (2023), acrylic on board, 30.5 x 40.5 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, La Prairie Art Award 2023; Thea Anamara Perkins The Bungalow (2023), acrylic on board, 40.5 x 30.5 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, La Prairie Art Award 2023
At 31, Perkins has established a formidable name for herself in the art world, earning a spot as an Archibald Prize finalist three times in a row, and in 2022, the Wynne Prize with her painting of Telegraph Station in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, a place of great, if not complex, significance to Perkins and her family. On top of this, Thea also won the Alice Prize & Dreaming Award in 2020 and the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2021. Safe to say, the La Prairie Art Award is well deserved.
Speaking on her win, Perkins said, "I believe it’s crucial that artists are well supported to create their work. I'm really excited by the international residency with La Prairie. It’s invaluable to have this opportunity to extend my practice internationally, especially as a First Nations artist."
She added, "My work delves into my family archives of photographs, and through the painting process, communicates the essence of these images. Fleeting, yet suspended in time, they are storied, and coloured by my own emotions and memories. They seek to express the love and strength in First Nations families and situate these instances of joy and belonging, or ‘glimmers’ into our collective imagination."
Thea Anamara Perkins Warren Ball Avenue (2023), acrylic on board, 30.5 x 40.5 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, La Prairie Art Award 2023; Thea Anamara Perkins The graduation (2023), acrylic on board, 30.5 x 40.5 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, La Prairie Art Award 2023
As the recipient of the La Prairie Art Award, Thea will receive $50,000 in exchange for the acquisition of an artwork intended for the Art Gallery collection. The artwork in question consists of four portraits representing three generations of her family members at various milestones and moments in their lives. This move works to strengthen and diversify the gallery's existing collection, while giving a platform to female-identifying voices previously unseen or unheard in mainstream art spaces.
In addition to this, Thea Anamara Perkins will also be offered an international residency to further her practice, worth $30,000, and will be welcomed as a VIP guest of La Prairie at Art Basel in Switzerland when in takes place in June.
