Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2024

Photography Review | Brian Rope

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2024 | Various artists

Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre (MRAC) | 17 August – 12 October 2024

It is always difficult to review an exhibition such as this where the artworks are from numerous artists and the only connection is that they have been selected as finalists in a competition. In 2022, a piece in the magazine Inside Imaging, said the grand prize “is an impressive $15,000 cash, making the MCPP a major Australian photo contest.” In this sixth year of the prize, the cash was doubly impressive at $30,000. 

The winner of the $30,000 was Merilyn Fairskye from Newtown in Sydney. Her winning work is Focus Infinity IV (4.41am, 09 May 2024, Maralinga village), 2024 – a Solve-Glaze archival pigment print on photo rag, 100 x 150 cm. It will be acquired and join all previous MCPP winners in MRAC’s permanent collection of post-war contemporary paintings, ceramic and photography.

MERILYN FAIRSKYE - Focus Infinity IV (4.14am 09 May 2024 Maralinga Village) 2024 

Fairskye’s concept statement reads “‘Focus Infinity IV' is part of my ongoing Long Life Project (https://www.longlifeproject.com). My current work looks at Australia and its looming nuclear future. On a recent visit to Maralinga, site of British nuclear tests in the 50s and 60s, I wanted to see what would be revealed if I photographed in complete darkness. My settings were f/1.4, 00:30 exposure, ISO 1600, focus ∞. Mid-exposure, I moved my camera from sky to earth.” The artist’s intentions are quite clear from that statement - and she has succeeded. The mid-exposure camera repositioning was a most effective technique to use.

Let me now comment on just a few of the other finalist works in the exhibition. Hilary Wardhaugh of Canberra is there with her work A Meditation of Death, 2024 – a digital print on archival photo rag paper 81 x 142 cm. It comprises twelve 8x10” digitised lumen prints created by first piercing an extraordinary 2000 tiny holes into black card, then using them as stencils placed over light-sensitive photo paper exposed in sunlight. The same work was also a finalist in the 2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize.

HILARY WARDHAUGH - A Meditation of Death, 2024

The artist statement tells us that the conceptual foundation of the work draws inspiration from “the Maranasati meditation, a contemplative practice centred on the inevitability of death, encouraging introspection on the consequences of humanity's violence and impermanence.” Wardhaugh is inviting viewers “to contemplate the profound impact of conflict through a poignant marriage of technique and symbolism.”

For the artist, the twelve images together represent the 24,000 people killed as of 3 January 2024. Where? Do you need to ask? Gaza. This work is just one of several excellent pieces created by this artist in recent times in response to very important issues that she feels strongly about. The arts practice page on her website is well worth exploring - https://www.hwp.com.au/arts-practice.

Two other finalists in the 2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize also made the cut in this MCPP. Orlando Luminere’s work here was a different one, but it was also created with one of his “trashcams” - yes, cameras he makes from trash. Wasted View, 2024 was made using a Camera Obscura digital made from trash, filled with trash.

This artist’s images created with his diverse and marvellous trashcams are always fascinating. The artwork here is a fine example of camera obscura photography.

ORLANDO LUMINERE - Wasted View, 2024

The other artist to feature in both shows with the same artwork is Caleb Arcifa. He uses sound to augment traditional processes with the subject’s energy, resulting in a unique print that is ‘signed’ by the sonic identity. Sonant Autograph #001 (Joini), 2023 uses Joini’s rendition of ‘If I Ain’t Got You’. Unfortunately, we can’t hear the sound, nor see the artifacts from the artist’s sonic experiments that explain the process behind work.

CALEB ARCIFA - Sonant Autograph #001 (Joini), 2023

Then there is a work by Tamara Dean from Kangaroo Valley, which the adjudicators highly commended - Blowin in the wind, 2024. This critically acclaimed Australian photomedia artist’s practice extends across photography, installation and moving image. This piece very cleverly and intelligently addresses the climate change crisis impacting the whole world right now - read the artist statement here.

TAMARA DEAN - Blowin in the Wind, 2024

There are many other interesting artworks in this exhibition, including Rozalind Drummond’s Scenario where photography, sculpture, and performance intersect. And Jacob Raupach’s Various Small Fires I + II, 2024, in which several small UV prints are displayed in sculptural grid-like structures made from Victorian Blackwood. However, you need to look at all the works yourself and read their accompanying artist statements. 

ROZALIND DRUMMOND - Scenario, 2024

JACOB RAUPACH - Various Small Fires I & II, 2024

Not everyone will agree, but I consider this year’s MCPP show to be the best yet overall. All the selected finalists in the exhibition can be seen in a virtual gallery here. However, it would be a much better experience to visit the MRAC and see the finished artworks up close if you possibly can do so.

This review is also available on the author's blog here. A very slightly different version is scheduled to be published in the October 2024 issue of The Printer (an online magazine by the Print Group of the Australian Photographic Society). Once published it will be available for download here.

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize 2022

Photography Review | Brian Rope

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize 2022 | Various artists

Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre | 9 July – 27 August 2022

For the third year in succession, a Canberran has won the MCPP. After Judy Parker won in 2020 and Ian Skinner in 2021, this year the first prize of $15,000 went to Sammy Hawker.

In his magazine Inside Imaging here, Will Shipton said “There must be something in the water around Canberra that feeds the conceptual photographic mind, as three of the four winners are from the relatively small capital city” and “The fourth MCPP is organised by the Australian Photographic Society (APS), an umbrella organisation for Australian camera clubs. The grand prize won by Hawker is an impressive $15,000 cash, making the MCPP a major Australian photo contest.”

I’ve previously reviewed two of Hawker’s recent exhibitions here and here. She works predominantly with film, often in close association with traditional custodians, and challenges the notion that a photograph constitutes the moment a camera shutter is released.

Sammy Hawker - Mount Gulaga, 2021

Hawker’s concept statement reads “This work was captured on 4x5 film looking out towards Mount Gulaga from the Wallaga Lake headland. I processed the negative with ocean water collected from site. When processing film with salt water the corrosive properties lifts the silver emulsion and the representational image is rendered vague. However an essence of the site is introduced to the frame as the vibrant matter paints its way onto the negative. A ghost of Gulaga looms behind the abstraction ~ felt rather than seen.”

Other Canberran finalists this year were Lyndall Gerlach, with two of her works, and Susan Henderson. Gerlach says, “For me, a good photographic image must always engage the viewer either emotionally or intellectually.” You can read more about Gerlach in another of my pieces here.

Lyndall Gerlach - Night City-ness #1, 2021

 

Lyndall Gerlach - Contemporary Lifestyle, 2021

This is Henderson’s first time as a finalist. Henderson believes photography is mostly about capturing the real and the now. She is “fascinated by the conjuncture of the two, the transient opportunity to record the light rather than the subject, to take advantage of nature and the built environment to photograph.”

Susan Henderson - Rain 2, 2021

At the opening, adjudicator Bill Bachman said “we were instinctively looking for images with a strong or original concept and superior execution, that in some way challenged our notions of normal. Happily, there were ideas, techniques and processes galore.”

Julie Williams had two works selected as finalists. Of them, Moth was given one of three HMs. The first word to enter my thoughts when I saw it was “bushranger”. Then I learned it is a reinterpretation of the life of the Lady Bushranger Jessie Hickman (1890-1936).

Julie Williams - Moth, 2022

The other HMs were works by Claire Conroy and Ben Blick-Hodge.

 

Claire Conroy - 35mm slide recovered in Lismore floods 2022

Ben Blick-Hodge - Soup's up! 2022

At the opening I met two first time finalists Sue Gordon and Michael Shirley, both of whom were thrilled to have had their works selected. In his artist statement relating to his work, Rain, Shirley speaks of rain coming to take you, your life, your house, your possessions, your friends. The black and white artwork shows numerous people under umbrellas, almost obliterated by rain which he has deliberately exaggerated.

Michael Shirley - Rain, 2021

Gordon’s work is a self-portrait titled What’s hidden in shadows. It is a powerful bruised depiction of physical abuse once experienced, but no more hidden or excused.

 

Sue Gordon - What's Hidden in Shadows, 2022

It was also great to see the work by Vicky Cooper and Doug Spowart – a concertina photo book – displayed on a shelf. This was the first year that anything other than 2 dimensional prints could be entered, so it was excellent that this work was a finalist.

 

Victoria Cooper & Doug Spowart - Desire Paths, 2022

All the finalists in the 2022 MCPP exhibition can be seen in a virtual gallery here.

This review is also available on the author's blog here.

2021 Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize

Photography Review by Brian Rope

Various artists: 2021 Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize

Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre | Until 20 August 2021

The annual Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) is conducted by the Australian Photographic Society. The 2021 winners were announced on 17 July at the Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre (MRAC). Attendance was restricted to just seven people, but the short event was simultaneously livestreamed to a broader audience nationwide via both Facebook and Zoom. As many people cannot visit the physical exhibition the MCPP Management Team has had a wonderful virtual gallery created, which allows anyone to explore all the images.

Of 43 finalists selected by the judges, three are Canberra artists – Ian Skinner, Lyndall Gerlach, and Judy Parker. All three of them were amongst an astounding nine Canberra finalists in 2020, with Parker winning the Prize on that occasion.

This year it was Skinner’s turn – he was announced as the winner of the $10,000 Prize for his finalist entry – Ashscapes 01-04. In his concept statement accompanying the image, Skinner speaks of the catastrophic fires in southeastern Australia in 2019-2020 which were followed by torrential rain. He explains that the rivers and creeks disgorged debris into the ocean causing the waves to turn grey with ash and convulse with charred remnants. The image shows where gentler waves deposited small flecks of carbonised vegetation on the beaches in “ephemeral patterns suggesting the hills, ridges and valleys of their living selves”. It is a beautiful artwork, most deserving of the Prize.

Ashscapes 01-04 - Ian Skinner

 

Skinner’s winning artwork has been acquired by the Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre for its permanent collection of post-war contemporary paintings, ceramic and photography. It joins the previous MCPP winners in that important collection.

Other prize winners were Ian Terry from Hobart and Anne Pappalardo from Brisbane, both of whom also entered excellent works. Terry received a $500 gift voucher for his work Night on the Tier - part of his ongoing project responding to the journeys of George Augustus Robinson who, assisted by palawa (Indigenous Tasmanian) guides, walked through Van Diemen’s Land in the 1830s to persuade palawa still on Country to give up their resistance to the European invasion of their island. In following Robinson, with his journal in hand, Terry is seeking to connect the historical with the contemporary, to make sense of his own existence “in this island of dreams which was stolen violently from its first people”. The fractured landscape shown wonderfully in the image is where Robinson spent his first night on one conciliation expedition.

Night on the tier - Ian Tier

Terry – also a 2019 finalist - had a second finalist entry this year - about the time he spent in COVID quarantine and reveals his view during those days of the outside world through his hotel bedroom window – whilst outside “the world changed and convulsed in ways few of us had previously imagined”.

This is three years in succession Pappalardo has been a finalist, also taking out an award in 2019. She received a $250 voucher for her work A New Place to Stay. For 50 years, her parents had Christmas holidays at the Tallebudgera Caravan Park on the Gold Coast, where their most cherished family memories were made. Age led them to sell their vintage caravan and book a high-rise beachfront apartment nearby the Park, “with high hopes for this journey toward a new tradition”. It rained torrentially and constantly for their stay, and this artwork reflects their gloom at the disappointing beginning to their new holiday ritual.

 

A New Place to Stay - Anne Pappalardo

Parker’s finalist artwork Australia-2020-2021? is of collected small objects that have caught her attention as interesting forms, including rusted bottle tops, carelessly discarded in public carparks and distorted by passing traffic. She began to think of these as symbols rather than curiosities: 2020, a horror year, represented in her image by these objects of zero value, in the colours of bushfires and plague: “photographs of 20 bottle tops, arranged in vaguely robotic form, varied to symbolise localised improvements or problems”. At the beginning of 2021, Parker incorporated another found object, a brutalised ten cent piece, (worthless currency) hovering, above the “20” as a symbol of hope but uncertainty.

 

Australia-2020-2021 - Judy Parker

Gerlach’s finalist image is another of her evocative creations titled Stream of Consciousness. She has always been interested in exploring the intriguing relationships between conscious awareness, the sub-conscious, ‘dream states’, and ‘stream of consciousness’. Addressing the question “What if the conceptual work was about suspending the certainty of conscious control?”, in post-production her images “became independent, remaking themselves, revealing different subjects, emotions and words. Colour, dark, deep, breathless. Embraces completely, cold slow flowing deep ice-water. Faint light shafts catch drifting lines”.

 

Stream of Consciousness - Lyndall Gerlach

There were series entries as well as single image entries this year, with four series making the exhibition. Of those, Anne O’Connor’s four colourful composites of fallen leaves  - titled Fallen Memories - look beautiful on the gallery wall.

 

Fallen Memories 01 - Anne O'Connor

Amongst the other artworks some that I particularly enjoyed were another two by O’Connor – East Coast Dreaming and I walk the land, Clare Weekes’ Collection Red, David Cossini’s Grande Bruto El Gato Loco,  Greg Tate’s Man Truck Woman Dog Bone, Todd Kennedy’s The East Australian Monolith and Tracy Lees’ A Surreal Life.

 

East Coast Dreaming - Anne O'Connor

I  walk the land - Anne O'Connor

Collection Red - Clare Weeks

Grande Bruto El Gato Loco - David Cossini

Man Truck Woman Dog Bone - Greg Tate

The East Australian Monolith - Todd Kennedy

A Surreal Life - Tracy Lees

I could discuss these and every other exhibit, but I’ll leave it for readers to explore themselves. The best way to appreciate each image is to read the artists’ Concept Statements whilst looking at them – either on the walls of the MRAC, on the virtual gallery mentioned in the opening paragraph of this review, or under the Finalists tab here.

One question for consideration is whether every image is truly conceptual (or whether a statement adequately explains the artist’s concept). One of the judges has shared her view that the majority of the works are not conceptual, despite having been selected as finalists. If she is right, then future entrants may need to work harder on their statements as well as creating great imagery.

This review is also on the author's own blog here.