Melbourne artist wins $10,000 Geelong print prize

MELBOURNE artist Marian Crawford has been crowned the winner of this year’s Geelong Acquisitive Print Award.

Mrs Crawford’s mixed media print “A blizzard” reigned supreme over 29 other finalists for the $10,000 major prize, and was lauded by judges for its “quiet, poetic quality and its sophisticated merging of the personal with the political”.

Made during lockdown in Melbourne, the imagery and scale of “A blizzard” references the constrained domestically of the pandemic and uses text drawn from two key literary sources to critique the role of the media and its presence and power.

Comprising of various small-scale letter press and relief prints, the piece draws from Walter Benjamin’s descriptions of the public advertising, billboards and typography of the late 1920s and also includes a 15-fragment letterpress print phrase from Polish author Olga Tokarczuk’s 2009 novel Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead to further showcase the power of newspapers to form opinions.

In her entry for the prize, Mrs Crawford’s referenced the notion “newspapers present us with a blizzard of signs, the news cycle presents us with the same, but art can slow and still this cycle, making space for a different type of reading”.

She said she was over the moon to secure the $10,000 prize.

“I am really thrilled and overwhelmed to have received this prestigious award and to have had my artwork so carefully considered by the three well respected judges.

“To know my work will now be included in the Geelong Gallery collection provides an enormous professional and financial support for my work as an artist.”

The Ursula Hoff Institute Award of $5,000 was won by Melbourne-based artist Christopher Orr for a captivating digital print of the biblical Judith beheading Holofernes.

Labelled “utterly arresting” by the three judges, “Served bold 2023” combined imagery from historical engravings with the intricate circuitry of a computer motherboard.

The piece spoke to the prominence of artificial intelligence and technology in the 21st century, and the way it can be used to blur the lines between reality and make-believe.

The Geelong Acquisitive Print Award judging panel consisted of independent curator and writer Kirsty Grant, Geelong Gallery director and chief executive officer Jason Smith and Geelong Gallery senior curator Lisa Sullivan.

The judges lauded both Mrs Crawford and Mr Orr for their “exceptional vision”.

“The winning prints are thoughtful meditations on our current times – whether the impact of COVID-19 or the treatment of women such as Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins in the media,” judge Lisa Sullivan said.

“The artists do so, by drawing on historical literature and art to contextualise these recent events.

“Marian Crawford’s and Christopher Orr’s works are significant additions to the Gallery’s nationally acclaimed print collection.

“We thank all artists for their work and extend our thanks to the Colin Holden Charitable Trust and the Ursula Hoff Institute for their support of the two acquisitive prizes.”

The 2023 Geelong Acquisitive Print Awards exhibition will be on show at the Geelong Gallery until October 8, 2023.

For more information, head to geelonggallery.org.au/2023-geelong-acquisitive-print-awards