Words: Rose of Sharon Leake

With a $30,000 fellowship up for grabs the eight emerging artists shortlisted by Artspace and Create NSW for its Visual Arts Fellowship has been highly anticipated. Announced this morning, the list of artists include five female identifying artists and three male identifying, from a diverse array of cultural backgrounds.

“The calibre of this year’s shortlisted emerging artists is once again at an impeccably high standard,” said Create NSW Executive Director Chris Keely. “I am thrilled that through this partnership with Artspace, exciting new works will be delivered for NSW audiences.”

The shortlisted artists are: multidisciplinary artists Akil Ahamat, Kate Brown, Dennis Golding, Julia Gutman, Nadia Hernandez and Kirtika Kain; sculptor Tarik Ahlip, and video and installation artist Tiyan Baker.

In its 24^th iteration the fellowship, and its prestigious $30,000 grant, provides an opportunity for emerging artists to gain support and exposure of their practice. “We are honoured to be working collaboratively with the eight outstanding artists who are all new to the Fellowship and to jointly shaping an exhibition that will offer unique insight into their practices,” said Keely. “We warmly congratulate the finalists and look forward to welcoming audiences to Artspace for this highly anticipated exhibition.”

Shortlisted artists will participate in an open Artspace exhibition from Saturday 31 October to Sunday 13 December 2020. The Fellowship winner will be announced and live streamed at the official exhibition launch on Saturday 14 November 2020.

Image: The 2020 NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship finalists: (From top left) Kate Brown, Julia Gutman, Tiyan Baker, Nadia Hernández, Dennis Golding, Akil Ahamat, Tarik Ahlip and Kirtika Kain.