Courtney Young: Recipient of the Susan Moorhead Memorial Award

Courtney Young is an artist and agroecological farmer based in Rutherglen, Victoria and is the Recipient of the Susan Moorhead Memorial Award.

Supporting local emerging visual artists, the award assists in the development and realisation of their professional career. This artist will receive $2000 cash, in addition to their exhibiting artist fees and seeks to promote conceptual intelligence and original thinking, contemporary relevance, and professional execution.

Courtney was chosen as the Award recipient as part of her successful applicants to the Murray Art Museum Albury Open Call Program.

Open Call is dedicated to presenting the work of artists from our region (Riverina Murray & North East Victoria), as well as artists from beyond the region whose work is locally significant

Courtney's exhibition Bank Manager Hour is currently on display in our Brindley Galleries.

The Award was established by Charles Sturt University Visual Arts Faculty in 2002 in memory of artist Susan Moorhead (1947-1990). The Award is now held in trust by the MAMA Art Foundation.

Through her place-based practice, Courtney is interested in challenging prevailing colonial approaches to understanding and perceiving the landscape, and examining her identity and privilege as a farmer in Australia. Her paintings often border abstraction and are grounded in a love of colour, texture and layers.

“On behalf of the MAMA Art Foundation, I am thrilled to announce Courtney Young as the recipient of Susan Moorhead Award. It is an honour to maintain the legacy of Susan Moorhead ‘s work as a passionate advocate for emerging visual arts in our region by rewarding Courtney, who is an artist with a very promising future ahead.” - Tony Smith – Chair, MAMA Art Foundation

“Courtney’s work contains strong narratives, telling stories of life in a regional area. The stories are sensitive, and while told from this area, share commonalities with stories of regional and rural life across the land. Courtney’s experience as an ecologically-minded farmer underpin many of these rich and evocative stories.”- Michell Dean – Community member, photographer, and MAMA volunteer guide

“Courtney is a deserving winner of the Susan Moorhead Award. She is a talented and dedicated painter, whose work is becoming more and more assured and visible. I hope the awarding of prize at this time in Courtney’s career marks a positive moment in the continued positive trajectory of her arts practice.” - Michael Moran – Head of Curatorial & Collections, MAMA