Congratulations Nadia Hernández, the recipient of the non-acquisitive $15,000 cash prize donated by long-standing sponsor of ‘the churchie’, BSPN Architecture. The winner was selected by Amy Barrett-Lennard, Director of Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and announced at the exhibition opening on Friday night.

Barrett-Lennard commented that, “The strong selection of shortlisted artists and works in this year’s Churchie made the judging role a particularly difficult one. Nadia Hernández’ paper cut collages combined technical surety with dynamic story-telling in a visually arresting portrayal of personal and political histories and lived experiences.”

Other prize winners are; Ben Soedradjit who received the Highly Commended Prize sponsored by Fardoulys Constructions, and Shireen Taweel and Sarah Poulgrain, who were both awarded Commendation Prizes sponsored by Madison Cleaning and Painting Services.

The People’s Choice Award will be drawn at the end of the exhibition period, to be voted on by gallery visitors.

The work of the 19 finalists will be on display at the IMA until 21 December 2019.

About the winner:

Nadia Hernández’s paper-cut works Remezcla #2 (Remix #2) (2019) and Remezcla #3 (Remix #3) (2019) depict a series of colourful vignettes that portray current political tensions, past resistance movements, acts of defiance, celebration, and technology-based connection as a way to speak of the artist’s own diasporic experience.

Hernández was born in Mérida, Venezuela and lives and works in Sydney. She studied at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2008. Her visual arts practice is informed by the current political climate of her home country and her diasporic experience as a Venezuelan woman living abroad. Articulated through textiles, paper constructions, painting, sound, installation and sculpture, her identity allows her, or perhaps encourages her, to create work that negotiates complex political narratives through the personal, the institutional, and their intersections.

Hernández’s work has been exhibited across Australia including solo exhibitions at Blackartprojects, Melbourne (2019); Firstdraft, Sydney (2018); and group exhibitions at UNSW Galleries, Sydney as part of the John Fries Award Finalist Exhibition (2019); Wangaratta Art Gallery, as part the Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award (2019); and Peacock Gallery, Auburn (2019). In 2019 she was appointed co-director of Firstdraft and was a recipient of the Bundanon Trust Artist-in-Residence program. Hernández recently presented work at Sydney Contemporary with Blackartprojects.