2 November 2020

Disaster artists: Australian creatives capture the fallout from 2020

| Dominic Giannini
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Artworks from The Hero’s Journey Art Prize 2020.

The Hero’s Journey Art Prize 2020 exhibition will be on at aMBUSH Gallery from 3-15 November. Image: Supplied.

From bushfires to floods to a pandemic that forced the country into lockdown, Australians have had their fair share of tragedy and tribulation in 2020.

But as the country gathered together as one, no two experiences were alike.

The Hero’s Journey Art Prize 2020 from the aMBUSH Gallery became a way to help artists across Australia by encouraging them to work at their most vulnerable moments and capture the sentiment of 2020 as it happened.

More than 100 entrants from capital cities, country towns, isolated farming communities, suburban households and coastal hubs submitted posters to the exhibition.

The callout also attracted artists of all ages and backgrounds, including a submission from an entire year 11 class, and a very artistic grandfather.

Stella Evans, a University of Wollongong student who is from Boorowa, NSW, was chosen as the winner for her artwork, The Road of Hope, and received a $3000 prize.

The Road of Hope artwork by Stella Evans.

The Road of Hope by Stella Evans won the 2020 Hero’s Journey Art Prize. Image: Supplied.

Esteemed judges Jaklyn Babington, from the National Gallery of Australia, Dr Erica Seccombe, from the Australian National University’s School of Art & Design, and Oscar Capezio, from the ANU Art Collection, praised Stella’s artwork which depicts her family’s struggle with drought.

The Hero’s Journey Art Prize exhibition at ANU will be open to the public from 10 am to 6 pm on weekdays, and from 12 pm to 5 pm on weekends, from 3-15 November.

Admission is free.

All posters will be printed, exhibited and sold, with 100 per cent of the profits going directly to the artists.

Art lovers from around Australia can email for a catalogue, or to purchase an artwork. Prices start at $99.

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