Finalists announced for $100,000 Hadley’s Art Prize 2025

Hadley’s Art Prize has announced the 30 finalists for the 2025 edition of its $100,000 acquisitive landscape prize, with works spanning painting, printmaking, photography, collage, drawing and ceramics.

This lucrative prize was established in 2017 by Hadley’s Orient Hotel in Hobart to contribute to the Tasmanian and Australian art scene, generate interest in cultural tourism and promote the work of contemporary landscape artists. The winning work is acquired by the hotel and enters its growing permanent collection which is available for the public to view.

This year’s finalists include a dynamic mix of early career and established artists from across Australia. Ken Done presents Mauve reef, an expressive, brightly coloured homage to reef diving. Pamela Pauline’s Once Was bears witness to the fragility of Australia’s ecosystems through layered photographic landscapes. Senior man George Cooley’s Painting my Country – The Breakaways documents the iconic mesas, ridges and escarpments of his Coober Pedy homeland, while Leon Russell Black’s Bush Holiday Dreaming shares scenes of life on Country in the Tiwi Islands.

Works range from the atmospheric to the hyper-detailed and the experimental, while themes of place, memory, identity and environmental change resonate throughout.

The judging panel – artist Naomi Hobson, curator Caine Chennatt, and artist Catherine Woo – said, “To reach the finalists we’ve recognised works that demonstrate technical excellence, evoke atmosphere, push creative boundaries, consider complex relationship to landscape, and convey powerful stories of place.”

Dr Amy Jackett, curator of the prize, added, “This year’s exhibition will have something for everyone – intricately painted realistic landscapes, abstract works, and surprising use of colour, texture and material.”

Alongside the Major Prize of $100,000, there is the $10,000 Residency Prize, the $2,500 People’s Choice Award, the $1,000 Packing Room Prize, and $1,500 worth of prizes for students.

The finalists include: Alex Bray, Andrew Pye, Belinda Street, Callum Francis, Denise Lamby, Elizabeth Kunoth Kngwarray, George Cooley, Harrison Bowe, Julz Beresford, Ken Done, Leon Russell Black, Lisa Gipton, Mary Tonkin, Melanie McCollin-Walker, Melissa Kenihan, Michaye Boulter, Neil Haddon, Pamela Pauline, Peter Griffen, Philip Wolfhagen, Raymond Arnold, Richard Klekociuk, Sandra Pumani, Sara Maher, Sophie Cape, Susan Stevenson, Tony Scott, Valerie Sparks, Victoria Peel and Yoshiko Gunning.

The finalists’ works will go on display at Hadley’s Orient Hotel in Hobart from 29 August to 21 September, with the winner announced on 28 August. For more information, visit the Hadley’s Art Prize website.