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The 2024 Wynne Prize & Our Changing Relationship with Country
Visitors to the Wynne Prize listening to a floor talk by Beatrice Gralton from the Art Gallery of NSW
Blocking out a couple of hours a week to step off the treadmill and give ourselves time to nurture our relationship with the earth and ourselves, is one way to keep our creative spirit and ‘lust for life’ alive. If you haven’t done so yet, one opportunity over the next two weeks is to spend some ‘slow’ time in the 2024 Wynne Prize exhibition at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.
Key Points:
The 2024 Wynne Prize is on display at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre until 15 June.
Blue Mountains artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro are finalists whose work is on display in the exhibition.
The exhibition features landscape painting and figurative sculptures that are redefining our relationship with Country.
If there’s one thing the 2024 Wynne Prize exhibition at the Cultural Centre reflects, it is that our society’s relationship with the land we share has changed significantly since the Wynne Prize was first awarded in 1897.
The Wynne Prize is for representational landscape painting or figurative sculpture. At times in the exhibition, the difference between these two once very different art forms becomes blurred. A sculpture of a body looks like a rolling hillside, and paintings of the land are more reflective of the artists’ internal landscapes.
An awareness of the interconnectedness of all life, that we are all ‘Country’, is clearly one of the major changes that has occurred since 1897.
This deepening understanding of Country, thanks to what we’ve learnt with our First Nations people, has also been reflected in the choice of artworks for the exhibition. Of the 41 finalists, just over half were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists – the highest number of Indigenous artists ever featured in this annual show.
Beatrice Gralton, Senior Curator of Contemporary Australian Art from the Art Gallery of NSW starting her floor talk in front of the winning artwork by Djakaŋu Yunupiŋu, painted with natural pigments on bark.
And the paintings aren’t just idyllic visions of Australia’s ‘stunning natural beauty’. They recognise, for example, that the landscapes many of us are familiar with are crowded cityscapes, burnt bushland, stolid suburban homes or, as in Robyn Sweany’s painting, a ‘permanent’ caravan in a holiday park … reflecting the ‘view’ so many see during our current housing crisis.
Robyn Sweaney’s Little by little
I asked Beatrice Gralton, the exhibition’s curator, how ‘representational landscape’ was now defined. She looked thoughtfully around the room, observing how many of the ‘landscapes’ painted were evocative, imaginative, spirited, implied, and abstracted, and summed up her observations by saying: “we have expanded the notion of how a painting can represent a landscape.”
As a society we have also expanded the notion of what Country is, and how we are clearly not separate from it.
Another major change that has occurred since 1897, and which is clearly reflected in this exhibition, is a growing and painful awareness of our impact on the earth through the materials we extract and the way we treat the land. This was evident in both the subject matter, and in the choice of materials for many of the artworks. Some of the most powerful works used natural pigments on bark, and found or recycled objects like truck doors, blankets, or recycled fabrics. Some were paintings, some were sculptures and some were both.
Grey nomadic visions (left) by Blue Mountains-based artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro.
Inspired by the many decorated trucks in Asia, Grey nomadic visions is painted on truck doors and addresses how we’ve damaged our country by relentlessly transporting commodities across it. Like the camel, and the blackberry painted decoratively around the edge of the doors (William Morris-style), we have been an invasive species.
Julia Gutman’s soft suspended sculpture is made with found fabrics.
The exhibition is designed to also engage younger children with a Children’s Trail
Take Action:
Visit the exhibition before it closes on 15 June and take time to read the informative labels.
Slow down and observe your relationship with Country.
Check out the Cultural Centre’s calendar and book in for future floor talks to delve more deeply into each exhibition.
The KTOWN pickers - Katoombans Taking On Waste Now - are clearing litter from local tracks and streets and stopping it from entering our waterways and eventually our water supply. Read more in Katoomba Area Local News (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/ktown-katoombans-taking-on-waste-now/
This Saturday will be the first meeting of the Upper Mountains Seed Saving and Gardening Group at the Planetary Health Centre, starting at 10am. Register your interest here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/3LalNFy
It will be followed by the Planetary Health Bushcare group at 1.30pm. Register your interest here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/49k8PPo
Global poisoning by a tsunami of toxins that are flooding the planet is fast becoming the biggest threat to life on earth. Extreme weather events like fire and flood accelerate this chemical pollution. To address this the Planetary Health Centre`s Full Cycle 2025 conference from 20-22 Nov is bringing together leading experts in managing extreme weather events as well as those who are working on reducing the risk of hazardous materials like asbestos and PFAS. According to keynote speaker Julian Cribb:
"The poisoning of our planet through human chemical emissions is arguably the largest human impact of all upon the Earth. In volume, it is four to five times greater than our climate emissions (which are a part of it), and three times more lethal than the estimated climate death-toll. It is the mega-threat least understood by society, monitored by science or regulated by government. It has mainly occurred over the last 50 years, due to a massive global surge in chemical use and materials extraction.
Scientific assessment has identified more than 350,000 man-made chemicals. The US Department of Health estimates 2000 new chemicals go on the market every year and the Smithsonian says 1000 new compounds are now being synthesised every hour. The UN Environment Program warns about a third of these “are persistent, able to accumulate in humans and animals and are toxic”.
The World Health Organisation estimates that 13.7 million people — one in every four — die each year from diseases caused by “air, water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change and ultraviolet radiation”, caused by human activity.
Human chemical emissions are thus responsible for the largest mass killing in history.
Learn more and register for the conference here (link in profile): www.fullcycleconference.com.au
There will be a free community expo on Saturday 22 November at the Planetary Health Centre in Katoomba.
Conference volunteers receive free registration. Email planetaryhealthevents@bmcc.nsw.gov.au if you’d like to volunteer at this critically important event.
T`ai-chi and Qigong routines can increase mobility and strength, improve immunity and help build an inner calm. To get the greatest health impact you need to practice them on a regular basis, so we`re thrilled to now be offering a 6-week block of classes to take you into summer starting 9am this Saturday 1 November and running until Sat 6 December. Bookings essential here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/4qrw4Nx This Saturday, 1 November, the activity is also the first in a full day of Skill Share activities at the Centre that includes Seed Saving and Gardening from 10am, and Planetary Health Bushcare from 1.30pm. You can book in for Bushcare here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/49k8PPo Contact Lis on 0407 437 553 for more information.
Rotarians 4 Planetary Health will be meeting again at the Planetary Health Centre at 6pm on Monday 27 October. Register at this link if you`d like to attend! (link in profile) https://events.humanitix.com/rotarians-4-planetary-health-l7bb4qhr?
Thank you to everyone who popped by for the @ediblegardentrailbluemountains today! It was a great day discussing gardens, ponds, frogs, seeds, composting seats, wicking beds and how to restore the hydrological cycle! Next Saturday will be our Skill Share Saturday. We`ll be kickstarting a 6-week block of Tai Chi & Qigong at 9am, launching our Seed Saving and Gardening Group at 10am and running our monthly Bushcare Group at 1.30pm. You can book in for Tai Chi here (link in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/tai-chi-and-qigong-six-week-block-spring-2025-qaw2ts2v and to Bushcare here (link also in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/planetary-health-bushcare-spring-summer-2025
The Planetary Health Centre is on the Edible Garden Trail today! Last week we launched the Upper Mountains Seed Savers and Gardening Group. Come along to learn more, enjoy a coffee in our garden, and pick up a free Vegetable and Flower Sowing Guide. We`re open from 10am. You can find us at 33-39 Acacia St Katoomba. Tickets for the Edible Garden Trail available here (link in profile): https://events.humanitix.com/blue-mountains-edible-garden-trail-2025
The Planetary Health newsletter is now out. Read about three days of innovation at the upcoming Full Cycle Conference in Nov, the Edible Garden Trail this weekend, and a six week block of Tai Chi and Qigong classes at the Planetary Health Centre (link in profile): https://bit.ly/47jbFBz
Today is an Extreme Bushfire Danger Day! Have you heard about the extraordinary fire resistant paint developed by Professor Yeoh and his team at UNSW? Professor Yeoh will be presenting at our Full Cycle Conference on Thurs 20 November. He is world renowned in the field of fire safety and his innovations are helping to keep people and property safe. Importantly among these innovations has been the development and commercialisation of FSA FIRECOAT paint (sold at Bunnings), which creates a protective insulating ‘char’ on a building when it’s exposed to flames. It is water based and non toxic. Watch it in action in this video (link in profile): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkA1RlxMjWQ
Join us at the Conference to learn more about Professor Yeoh’s work during three days of innovation and exploration in which leading speakers from around Australia will share how we can reduce the risks of natural hazards and hazardous materials. Places are limited so register here now (link in profile): https://www.fullcycleconference.com.au/
With new modelling suggesting a hot summer with increasing fire risk it`s worth making time now to learn more about how we can reduce the risk of disaster by registering to attend the Full Cycle Conference that`s bringing together the Bushfire Building and Asbestos & Hazardous Materials Management Conferences in Katoomba on 20-22nd Nov. Group discounts apply if you register now here (link in profile): www.fullcycleconference.com.au
• Emma Whale from the NSW Reconstruction Authority will discuss how state-wide and place-based disaster adaptation planning is helping reduce risk;
• David Sanderson, the inaugural Judith Neilson Chair in Architecture at UNSW, will share the results of a landmark enquiry on how our response to disasters requires a change in housing policy and local government empowerment;
• Owen Price, Director of The Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires at UOW will compare the patterns of housing loss in the NSW and Californian wildfires;
• Guan Heng Yeoh from UNSW will share how he developed the award winning FIRECOAT fire resistant paint;
• Everson Kandare from RMIT University will discuss the development of fireproof cladding made from molasses-cultured mycelium - a fungal biomass;
• Alan Green from the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre UOW will introduce Heatwave and Multi-Hazard Resilience Star Rating Tools for retrofitting houses;
• Emma Bacon from Sweltering Cities and Dr Kim Loo from Doctors for the Environment will discuss heat waves and social justice;
• Andrew Bovis from Integrated Water Solutions will discuss the potential use of treated blackwater as an independent water source for landscape hydration and fire fighting;
• Sara Jane Wilkinson from UTS will launch the Bushfire Retrofitting Toolkit for older Australians and do a session on green roofs and walls to reduce disaster risk and increase biodiversity;
• Melissa Knothe Tate will discuss research on tackling PFAS contamination;
Thank you to everyone who participated in our inaugural Blue Mountains Food Security Fair today. It was an inspiring and thought provoking day with lots learnt, many connections made, amazing food consumed and stunning weather! We look forward to doing it again next year!
The inaugural Blue Mountains Food Security Fair kicks off at 9am today at the Planetary Health Centre in Katoomba. Pop in to listen to a talk, watch a demo, grab a coffee and sweet treat from Good Fat Pastry, a delicious lunch from Bibi`s Kitchen, fresh mushrooms from EarthRising Mushroom Farm, locally acclimatised vegetable seeds from Mid Blue Mountains Seed Savers, and edible native plants from Muru Mittigar Ltd You can view the full program here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/4nOSJle The Planetary Health Centre is at 33-39 Acacia St (former Katoomba Golf Course).
The Fair is a World Animal Day event and has been supported by a sEEd grant from the Australian Association of Environmental Educators.
Dave Spees, Katoomba-based carpenter and founder of Against the Grain, has turned the by-product of his craft into a sustainable, sought-after winter fuel. His compressed sawdust briquettes are now helping to heat homes across the Blue Mountains, all while dramatically reducing landfill waste.
