Out of almost 1300 entries, approximately 100 have been shortlisted for this year’s Fleurieu Art Prize. The winner of the $60 000 main prize is announced as part of a series of presentation of the artworks across South Australia’s McLaren Vale, late in October. My painting ‘Groote Eylandt Overhang’ has been selected as a finalist.
Check out details of the Fleurieu Art Prize program and other finalists here.
This work plots the intersection of multiple levels of Australian context, history and landscape. Groote Eylandt sits in the Gulf of Carpentaria just off of the coast of Arnhem Land. Both Groote and Arnhem Land were given their European names by Dutch explorers more than 100 years prior to British settlement. The region also experienced extensive trade with the Macassans for thousands of years prior to that.
The rock outcrop is typical of the region and indicative of sites that have held significance for tens of thousands of years to Australia’s First Peoples. The scrawl that is incorporated is specifically from Groote Eylandt, made by contemporary youth. Much of the graffiti found across the Top End is quite specific and its variations and coding are fascinating to people with a strong interest in this material.