Kate Bohunnis, born Adelaide, 1990, edges of excess, 2020, Thebarton, South Australia, stainless steel, aluminium, chain, silicone, electronic mechanism. Courtesy of the artist © Kate Bohunnis.; photo: Sam Roberts.
Ramsay Art Prize 2021
Congratulations to Kate Bohunnis, winner of the $100,000 Ramsay Art Prize 2021, the nation’s most generous prize for Australian artists under forty, with the work edges of excess.
The winning work is a kinetic sculpture. A pendulum, made from metal and fabricated by the artist herself, swings over a slumped fleshy form made from silicone. The sculpture references divination tools used in spiritual healing introduced to the artist as a child.
The judges were unanimous in their appreciation of the work and describe it as conceptually rigorous and technically resolved with an inventive approach to materials, that speaks to the precarity of our times.
Bohunnis' Ramsay Art Prize 2021 entry now becomes part of AGSA's collection.
This year twenty-four finalists were selected by a judging panel of contemporary art specialists comprised of Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens, Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Director of Programs at Carriageworks and Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design at AGSA.
The finalists are
Hoda Afshar (VIC), Cigdem Aydemir (NSW), Ella Barclay (ACT), Nathan Beard (WA), Kate Bohunnis (SA), Sam Cranstoun (QLD), Dean Cross (NSW), Zaachariaha Fielding (SA), Liam Fleming (SA), Julia Gutman (NSW), Solomon Kammer (SA), Kieren Karritpul (NT), Juanella McKenzie (SA), Daniel McKewen (QLD), Alasdair McLuckie (VIC), Hayley Millar Baker (VIC), Nabilah Nordin (VIC), Tom O'Hern (TAS), Tom Polo (NSW), Anna Madeleine Raupach (ACT), Anna Louise Richardson (WA), Lisa Sammut (ACT), Nicola Smith (NSW) and Kasia Tons (SA).
People’s Choice Prize Winner Announced
The winner of the $15,000 Ramsay Art Prize 2021 People's Choice Prize supported by LK is Hoda Afshar with her work Agonistes.
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Agonistes by Hoda Afshar, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Presented by
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James and Diana Ramsay Foundation
People's Choice Prize
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LK logo 2021
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Agonistes by Hoda Afshar, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Hoda Afshar
Born in Tehran, Hoda Afshar is an artist based in Narrm (Melbourne) who works with photography and the moving image to explore the nature and possibilities of documentary image-making...
Cigdem Aydemir, Australia, born 1983, Veils on Veils I, II, III, 2020, Sydney, three-channel HD video, 1.08 minutes; Courtesy of the artist and Finkelstein Gallery, Melbourne, © Cigdem Aydemir, photo: Marion Moore.
Cigdem Aydemir
Cigdem Aydemir’s socially and politically engaged practice takes interest in postcolonial and feminist issues, and frequently explores the veil as a symbol of cultural identity...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Dense Bodies and Unknown Systems by Ella Barclay, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Ella Barclay
Ella Barclay explores the complex yet universal experience of living in a networked world...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Limp-wristed Gesture (i) by Nathan Beard, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Nathan Beard
Nathan Beard is a multidisciplinary artist who unpacks the influences of culture, memory and authenticity drawing upon his Australian-Thai heritage...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring edges of excess by Kate Bohunnis, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.; photo: Saul Steed.
Kate Bohunnis
Focusing on identity, gender and queer perspectives, Bohunnis’ installations connect materials with psychological states and behaviours...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Look Out! by Sam Cranstoun, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.; photo: Saul Steed.
Sam Cranstoun
Encompassing drawing, painting, video and sculpture, Sam Cranstoun’s practice examines power structures and the potential for images to shape historical narratives...
still: Dean Cross, Worimi people, New South Wales, born 1986, Canberra, Reflect (Self Portrait as an Australian Painter), 2020, Sydney, HD video with sound, 8.44 minutes; Courtesy the artist and Yavuz Gallery, Singapore & Sydney, © Dean Cross.
Dean Cross
Dean Cross is an artist of Worimi descent interested in colliding materials, ideas and history...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring A Question About Direction by Zaachariaha Fielding, 2020 and I waited for me to believe in god or for you to send gloves for the cold (Je tu il elle) by Nicola Smith, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; ph; photo: Saul Steed.
Zaachariaha Fielding
“I was raised on desert country in the eastern Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, and come from a long line of multi-disciplinary artists..."
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Post-Production by Liam Fleming, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Liam Fleming
Technically trained as a glass-blower, Liam Fleming's architecturally inspired practice is grounded in the most precise of techniques...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring No one Told Me the Shadows Could Be So Bright by Julia Gutman, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.; photo: Saul Steed.
Julia Gutman
Living and working on Gadigal Country (Sydney), Julia Gutman alters found textiles to produce personal, narrative-driven installations...
Solomon Kammer, born 1991, Perpetuity, 2020, Richmond, South Australia, oil on canvas, 108.0 x 160.0 cm; Courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, Singapore & Sydney, © Solomon Kammer.
Solomon Kammer
Solomon Kammer's practice interrogates the relationship women have with their bodies. 'Perpetuity' is an exploration of consent, coercion, and trauma...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Weaving Myself: the Landscape and the Land; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Kieren Karritpul
Kieren Karritpul is a Ngen'giwumirri artist who lives in the small community of Nauiyu (Daly River) south west of Darwin...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Yurndu (Sun) by Juanella Mckenzie, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.; photo: Saul Steed.
Juanella McKenzie
Juanella McKenzie is an Adnyamathanha and Luritja artist who combines ancient and modern practices to tell the stories of her people...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring A Rising Tide by Daniel McKewen, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Daniel McKewen
Daniel McKewen investigates the intersections of contemporary art, pop culture, economics and politics...
Image: installation view Ramsay Art Prize 2021, Two Clocks and Sixteen Shoulders by Alasdair McLuckie, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Courtesy of the artist and Murray White Room, Melbourne and Mother's Tankstation Limited, Dublin & London, © Alasdair McLuckie. Photo Saul Steed.
Alasdair McLuckie
Through a formalist sensibility, Alasdair McLuckie's work investigates the legacy of Modernism, including its movements, styles and mythologies.
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring I Will Survive by Hayley Millar Baker, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Hayley Millar Baker
Hayley Millar Baker is a research-based artist who uses photography to interrogate the way memories are made through acts of remembering and misremembering...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Smudging Day (Family Grime) by Nabilah Nordin, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Nabilah Nordin
Nabilah Nordin's installations embrace wonky crafting techniques, and playfully celebrate the visceral and anthropomorphic qualities of materials...
detail: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring 1000 drawings from the end of the world by Tom O'Hern, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Tom O'Hern
Tom O'Hern's practice is centred around drawing and includes painting, murals and animation. O’Hern is drawn to the raw mark-making of graffiti, doodles, scratches and scrawls...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Guiding Guardians (This Wasn't Yours) by Tom Polo, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.; photo: Saul Steed.
Tom Polo
Based on Gadigal Country (Sydney), Tom Polo’s practice investigates how conversation and gestures can be transformed into portraiture...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring Slow Violence (Gospers Mountain) by Anna Madeleine Raupach, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Anna Madeleine Raupach
Anna Madeleine Raupach’s practice explores the intersection of human and nonhuman timescales evident in climate change...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring We should be more afraid of the sun than the moon by Anna Louise Richardson, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Anna Louise Richardson
Based on Whadjuk Nyungar Country, Anna Louise Richardson investigates rural Australian identity and associated mythologies...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring i just don't think that way by Lisa Sammut, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Lisa Sammut
Lisa Sammut's playful and poetic works oscillate between themes of cosmic perspective, belief and time...
installation view: Ramsay Art Prize 2021 featuring I waited for me to believe in go or for you to send gloves for the cold (Je tu il elle) by Nicola Smith, 2020; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; photo: Saul Steed.
Nicola Smith
Nicola Smith is interested in the relationship between cinema and painting. The past six years she has looked to the work of Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman...
detail: Kasia Tons, born 1985, After, 2019-2020, Lenswood, South Australia, wool, cotton, synthetic threads on cotton canvas base, 171.5 x 98.0 cm; Courtesy of the artist, © Kasia Tons, photo: Madisyn Zabel.
Kasia Tons
Based on Peramangk Country, South Australia, Kasia Tons is a textile artist who draws inspiration from making outdoors...
Podcasts
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Tuesday Talks - Rebecca Evans in conversation with 2021 Ramsay Art Prize Winner Kate Bohunnis
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Tuesday Talks - Rhana Devenport introduces the Ramsay Art Prize 2021