Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) have today announced the exhibiting artists and major expansion of the 2025 Hatched: National Graduate Show – the country’s most prestigious exhibition and art prize for recent art school graduates. Showcasing the next generation of Australia’s contemporary creative voices, this year Hatched will be presented for the first time in an offsite venue in Perth’s CBD from 2 August to 5 October

Celebrating its 34^th year, PICA has partnered with ISPT who is generously donating an expansive light-filled space in Forrest Chase in the heart of Perth’s central business district. A mecca for contemporary culture – positioned by the city’s central train station, university, entertainment and hospitality venues and fashion precinct – this vibrant and dynamic location presents new opportunities for students, artists and the broader public to discover Hatched.

Since its inception in 1992, Hatched has been a launching pad for many artists – with an impressive alumni including Australian greats Archie Moore, Julie Gough, Dennis Golding and Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran. The exhibition continues to provide a vital national platform for early-career artists and, for most, their first experience exhibiting at a major art institution. Hatched is the country’s only national survey of recent art school graduates.

‘Hatched has always been about spotlighting the boldest new voices in Australian contemporary art, and in 2025, we’re proud to take that commitment even further,’ says PICA Director/CEO Hannah Mathews.

‘Our move into Forrest Chase is a fortuitous opportunity, enabling us to transform a city space into a vibrant cultural platform for emerging artists. The temporary relocation of Hatched speaks to everything PICA stands for: visionary thinking, making meaningful connections between artists and audiences, and nurturing artistic pathways for the next generation. We’re deeply grateful to Minderoo Foundation and ISPT for joining us in this endeavour – together, we’re imagining new ways for art to live, grow and resonate in the fabric of our city.’

2025 marks the 16th anniversary of The Dr Harold Schenberg Arts Awards, valued collectively at $50,000 – the largest prize pool for emerging artists in Australia – made possible by funds bequeathed to The University of Western Australia by Dr Harold Schenberg.

PICA is thrilled to continue its partnership with The University of Western Australia to present four Hatched artists with these awards – made up of three $15,000 ‘most exceptional’ prizes and one People’s Choice Award of $5,000 awarded at the end of the exhibition. In 2025, the judging panel consists of Hannah Mathews (PICA Director/CEO), Dr Theo Costantino (Director, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, UWA) and in a huge coup, Kamilaroi/Bigambul artist and fellow Hatched alum Archie Moore.

Over the last three decades, Hatched has featured the work of over 1,400 art school graduates – who have been nominated by their teachers and then selected by a panel of nationally acclaimed artists and curators – platforming their works to a national audience and connecting them with their peers from across the country. In 2025, the Hatched selection panel consisted of Shannon Lyons (artist, Hatched alumni 2005, WA), Tristen Harwood (art critic and writer, VIC) and Gemma Ben-Ary (curator, PICA, WA).

In 2025, Hatched will showcase 23 graduates from 20 schools. PICA is thrilled to present the works of:   

Charlotte Rose Jeffrey-Bannister (SA) 
Chloe Catto (TAS)
Clara Chanisheff (VIC)
Ebony Maurice-Wilmott (VIC)
Elsa Mona (WA)
Germaine Chan (WA) 
Gosha Heldtz (NSW) 
Grace Yong (WA) 
Isabella Rose Cort (QLD) 
Jade Power (VIC) 
Karen Zipkas (VIC)
Litia Roko (ACT)
Madi Jones (NSW)
Maelyse Xinh Leculier (NSW) 
Mandana Eizadi (WA) 
Marcus C. Payne (VIC) 
Mim Kowner (WA)
Nicole Goode (VIC)
Pippini Niamh (SA) 
Rosemary Tamas-Cao (QLD) 
Samuel Chan (NSW) 
Silki Wong (SA) 
Tom Duffy (NSW) 

In 2025, Hatched sees participants take part in some of the most important conversations of today – through use of mediums including painting, ceramics, drawing, woodwork, printmaking, textiles, metalwork, photography, performance, video, sound and sculpture.

Exploring the tension between public and private identities in the digital world and media performativity, Marcus C. Payne (VIC) samples podcasts, YouTube shorts and Instagram reels to reflect on the current online depictions of masculinity. Payne explores the commodification of stoic ideals within Red-Pill culture and motivational media in an attempt to expose the absurdity of the relentless cycle of productivity and self-surveillance. Feminist-based performer and choreographer Isabella Rose Cort (QLD) draws from her previous career as a professionally trained classical dancer to explore ideas of gender performativity, Western media and the mirror self. And in a series of oil paintings based on video playbacks of the Matildas at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Mim Kowner (WA) explores the growing visibility of women’s sports in media and challenges the customs of how female athletes are portrayed. 

Throughout the exhibition, themes of colonial legacy, resilience and protest are powerfully explored as Dharug man Tom Duffy (NSW) delves into questions of identity and Australia’s history with First Nations people. Through bold reinterpretations of historical archival imagery, Duffy bridges the past and present, engaging deeply with post-colonial discourse.

Engaging with urgent conversations around emerging technologies, data, surveillance and AI, Clara Chanisheff (VIC) draws on her background as a perfumer to explore olfactory perception and its evolving relationship with biodata, personal autonomy and the corporate and political forces shaping identity. Meanwhile, Litia Roko (ACT) investigates the intersection of the politics of technology and the politics of art – through video, performance, installation and text. Her work critically examines the role of technology within institutional frameworks, using screen-based imagery as post-representational data points embedded in systems of surveillance, extraction and data colonialism.

Each year, PICA extends its support for Hatched artists by offering studio residencies to one interstate and one Perth-based participant, providing invaluable opportunities for development beyond the exhibition. In 2025, Chloe Catto (TAS) from the University of Tasmania and Elsa Mona (WA) from Edith Cowan University will undertake residencies at PICA to further advance their artistic practice from 4 August to 1 September.

2025 also sees PICA welcome new Hatched Curatorial Associate (2025-26) Mia Palmer-Verevis, who says: ‘It’s an incredible privilege to work alongside such a talented group of new artists, each offering bold perspectives and deeply considered practices. The opportunity to present their work in this new space allows us to reimagine how contemporary art can be experienced. I’m thrilled to help shape this moment of visibility and momentum for the artists selected for Hatched 2025.’

Hatched is made possible by PICA’s exhibition partner the Minderoo Foundation; venue partner ISPT; and the generosity of PICA’s Art 1000 Donors.

Supporting Hatched and its emerging artists since 2020, Minderoo’s Executive Director of Communities Penny Dakin says: ‘Minderoo is proud to support Australia’s most promising emerging artists through our long-standing partnership with PICA. For nearly six years, we’ve supported the Hatched exhibition and Hatched Curatorial Fellowship, which help create strong career pathways for early career artists and arts workers. We believe programs like Hatched are essential to strengthening WA’s arts sector, and that investing in the arts helps build more connected, creative and inclusive communities.’

Please join us for a PICA After Dark Opening Night extravaganza on Friday 1 August to celebrate the 2025 Hatched: National Graduate Show – with the announcement of The Dr Harold Schenberg Arts Awards winners taking place at 6.45pm; and an opening weekend of activities including Weekends at PICA artists talks and tactile tours on Saturday 2 August and Hatched Family Day art making activities on Sunday 3 August. 

Hatched 2025 venue directions

From the Perth Train Station, take the pedestrian walkway over Wellington Street toward the southern entrance of Myer, then turn left toward Strike Bowling and take the lift on the right-hand side up to Level 3. 

Images: Charlotte Rose Jeffrey-Bannister, SA, Chris, 2024; Nicole Goode, VIC, Linger (grind rail), 2024, Celeste De Clario