Acquisitive Art Prize 2023

This year’s guest judge was acclaimed Australian photographer, Ponch Hawkes. Hawkes’ photographic work is broad in its scope, including the portrayal of artists, feminists, sportspeople, public figures and candid street photographs. Her photographs are often exhibited as a series or multiples, and the subjects in the work are often invited to actively participate in the process.  Through this method, Hawkes pursues a sustained interest in the way individuals use their bodies, and relate to each other through their bodies.

Her work has been included in major Australian exhibitions at the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia and is represented in collections at the Queensland Art Gallery, State Library of Victoria, City of Melbourne, Horsham Regional Gallery, Monash Gallery of Art, the Women's Art Register and the Jewish Museum of Australia.

And the winner is…

Congratulations to the winner of the 2023 Acquisitive Art Prize, Year 12 student, Jent from the Glen Waverley Campus, with his Wall of Darkroom photography installation. Jent is the International Prefect at Glen Waverley Campus, and studies VCE Creative Practice under the guidance of art teacher, Steve Glover. Last year he won an encouragement award, so was thrilled to take home the major prize this year. As well as the title, he will receive $500 in prize money.

Ponch chose Jent’s work as she said it ‘instantly captured her attention for its creativity, detail and use of analogue photography.’ Michele Maher, Head of Visual Art at Glen Waverley Campus notes, ‘Jent has come a long way, improving his technical skill with photography, while studying the famous works of Henri Carter Bresson, Max Dupain and Andreas Gursky. He is now making his own contemporary artwork that challenges both himself and his audiences.’

‘The Acquisitive Art Prize competition provided me with a great opportunity to exhibit my work to the public and receive valuable critiques from viewers. I am incredibly fortunate to have won the award, and I express my gratitude to Ponch Hawkes who is a highly esteemed artist and photographer, for recognising my work and sharing my passion for photography,’ said Jent.

‘This in fact is my third Acquisitive Art Award since Year 10, with the previous two being Encouragement Awards. I think the encouragement has finally got me to this point, showing the growth and progress of my photography journey, which is also the idea behind this artwork… to emphasise the developments and processes of film photography.’

Encouragement Awards were awarded to St Kilda Road Campus student Silas Mitchell (OW2022), for his digital photograph on semi-gloss paper titled Cat Lady, and Year 11 student, Tiernan, for his acrylic on canvas portrait titled Kobe.

The Packers Prize, as voted by the College's Art Technicians who hang the work, was awarded to Year 12 Glen Waverley Campus Art Prefect, George, for his analogue photography series titled, Triptych of Residents.

‘As Art Prefect, it was great to see so many fantastic artworks from the senior students in this year’s exhibition,’ said George. ‘I was really impressed by the broad range of mediums and techniques used, which has inspired and motivated me to continue pushing boundaries in my own art making.  I’m looking forward to seeing more artwork from everyone as we move further into the year.’

The People’s Choice Award was awarded to Year 12 Glen Waverley student, Ethan, for his pencil on paper piece titled, Musculoskeletal System.

This is the 26^th year of the Acquisitive Prize, and it is great to see the breadth and depth of artworks that our students create. They should all be proud of their achievements and for their courage to enter a competition which sees their art displayed beyond their classroom.

Michele Maher - Head of Visual Arts, Glen Waverley Campus