The Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) has announced the award recipients of the Hatched: National Graduate Show 2024 Dr Harold Schenberg Arts Awards – totalling $50,000 – awarded to exceptional Hatched artists to encourage their work and further invest in the development of their careers.
 
In 2024, the prestigious prize was awarded to Lily Trnovsky of Adelaide Central School of Art for her ceramic works I loved the weight I had to bear and Sweet and bitter in a breath, Vedika Rampal of the University of New South Wales for her installation Pilgrimage II, and Kate McGuinness of Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney for her video work I like long walks on Parramatta Road.
 
Presented at PICA’s Hatched Opening Night Party celebrations on Friday evening, the Dr Harold Schenberg Art Awards – now in its 15^th year – is the largest prize pool for emerging artists in Australia. 
 
‘The work of the three recipients of the Dr Harold Schenberg Arts Awards reflect the breadth and diversity of emerging artistic practice around Australia,’ says Hatched Curatorial Fellow Brent Harrison. 
 
‘Their works capture local and global concerns and are entwined with personal narratives of love, loss, pilgrimage and humour. These three artists have bright futures with the awards assisting them to pursue their careers as artists.’
 
Since 1992, Hatched has been a vital platform for early-career artists – exhibiting the work of over 1,400 art school graduates from across the country – with notable alumns including Archie Moore, Julie Gough and Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran.

Image: Lily Trnovsky, Hatched: National Graduate Show 2024, installation view, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), 2024. Photo: Dan McCabe

The 2024 judging panel comprised Dr Theo Costantino, Director, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The University of Western Australia; Tarryn Gill, artist and PICA Board Member, Perth; and Hannah Mathews, Director/CEO, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA).

Chained together and laden with padlocks, Lily Trnovsky’s pair of sculptures – I loved the weight I had to bear and Sweet and bitter in a breath – were inspired by the love lock bridges found in cities around the world. Exploring the emotional impact of love and death on human relationships, Trnovsky seeks to immortalise these intangible feelings into physical objects.

With judges noting, ‘Lily Trnovsky’s accomplished use of materials and form invites close investigation. Her works’ clear communication of ideas draws from a range of contexts and conveys both weight and delicacy in its realisation. We are excited to hear of her future study at the Royal College of Art, London, where we know she will continue to challenge herself and develop her practice.’

Image: Vedika Rampal, Pilgrimage II, 2023, Hatched: National Graduates Show 2024, installation view, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), 2024. Photo: Dan McCabe

Pilgrimage II is a large-scale installation by Vedika Rampal made in response to her visit to the Ajanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Maharashtra, India (regarded as the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art). Transferring photographs and diary entries onto large copper and red acrylic sheets, Rampal explores the impacts of colonial intervention on the early art forms.
 
‘Vedika Rampal’s work demonstrates a powerful engagement with the relationships between materials and colonial processes,’ the judges said. ‘Her visual language is sophisticated and resolved, paralleled by her attention to audience perspective and engagement. Vedika contends with history and its complexities with deep consideration. We can see a strong future ahead for her as she continues to resolve the past and future.’

Image: Kate McGuinness, I like long walks on Parramatta Road, 2023, Hatched: National Graduate Show 2024, installation view, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), 2024. Photo: Dan McCabe

Traversing the boundary between video art and documentary filmmaking, Kate McGuinness creates idiosyncratic films that explore unlikely and everyday places. I like long walks on Parramatta Road follows a woman with red hair, walking along this busy Sydney strip, meeting the people who frequent it. Intimate testimonials from locals and small business owners provide insight into the history of the road and their relationships to it. 
 
‘Kate McGuiness’s powerful and playful film is ambitious and complex. Contending with the existential and ubiquitous, it is an ode to the people and places that shape us,’ the judges said. ‘Kate’s work is impressive in scope, scale and duration, while comfortable moving between the high and low brow. We are eager to see where her practice takes her.’
 
Hatched showcases work from the most exciting emerging artists from across the country, and in 2024, 76 works by 22 artists from 21 art schools participated in PICA’s flagship exhibition, and Australia’s only national survey of recent art school graduates.
 
PICA is pleased to be working with UWA on these significant awards for emerging artists, made possible by funds bequeathed to The University of Western Australia by Dr Harold Schenberg.
 
Hatched is made possible by Major Exhibition Partner the Minderoo Foundation, Grace Fine Art and the generosity of PICA’s Art1000 Donors. 
 
The Perth Institute of Contemporary Art’s Hatched: National Graduate Show 2024 exhibition is now open from 3 August – 13 October.