Tiyan Baker wins the 2022 National Photography Prize
Newcastle artist Tiyan Baker is the recipient of the prestigious Murray Art Museum Albury National Photography Prize 2022.
Tiyan Bakerhas been awarded the $30,000 acquisitive National Photography Prize 2022 for herseries of works featuring imagery from her mother’s ancestral lands in Bidayǔh, Sarawak (Malaysia.) The artworks combine lush landscape photography with floating text from the Bidayǔh language in autostereogram format (Magic Eye). In each photograph, the viewer experiences a three dimensional natural scene infused with disappearing words; a reflection on the industrialisation of these farmlands and the disappearance of the traditional ways of life for the Bidayǔh people.
Photographer Sara Oscaris the recipient of the John and Margaret Baker Memorial Fellowship and will receive a cash award of $5,000 for her work, My Body over the Pieces / Pieces over my Body, 2021.
The biennial prize has been judged by Hany Armanious, artist and Head of Sculpture, National Art School, Sydney. Speaking to his selection of Tiyan Baker’s work, Hany Armanious said ‘These are works that are driven as much by the potential of the medium as they are the content they present. They are beautifully presented works, considered and perfectly scaled, and most importantly they invite viewers in, offering an open-ended experience. I find myself returning to these works and seeing something new in them each time. This has been a difficult decision to make, with a number of excellent works staying with me throughout the process. Tiyan’s works are the ones that keep drawing me back”.
"Tiyan is an exciting artist and we are thrilled to be acquiring this work into the museum’s collection. The National Photography Prize has always sought to celebrate work that extends, stretches and challenges the medium, and Tiyan’s work is exemplary of this.”
In selecting Sara Oscar as the recipient of the $5,000 John & Margaret Baker Fellowship, Armanious said: “I am delighted by Sara’s body of work. The images and their combinations are beguiling and slyly funny. As an award for an emerging artist, I am pleased to recognise Sara with this fellowship and am excited about her future projects.
Oscar’s work features photographs of her body building father and uncle, who bulked up in Mumbai in preparation for migration and integration into masculine Australia. The installation combines photography and sculpture in an installation that includes images of her own skin and body, and elements of silk Thai fabrics calling upon her mother’s heritage.
Tiyan Baker,
bigabu, 2021
Digital autostereogram photograph
Image courtesy of artist
Tiyan Baker,
mungut, 2021
Digital autostereogram photograph
Image courtesy of artist
Tiyan Baker
mungut, 2021
Digital autostereogram photograph
Image courtesty of artist
The selection panel for this year’s Prize included Ellie Buttrose, Curator, Contemporary Australian Art, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Hayley Millar Baker artist and winner of the John & Margaret Baker Memorial Fellowship, National Photography Prize 2020, and Michael Moran, Curator, Murray Art Museum Albury.
Bringing together the best photographic practice from across Australia, all works from the 12 finalists will be exhibited until 5 June.
The finalists include: Amos Gebhardt, Caitlin E. Littlewood, Dean Cross, Dennis Golding, Guy Grabowsky, Janet Laurence, Kate Mitchell, Kiron Robinson, Luke Parker, Robert Fielding Sara Oscar, Tiyan Baker.
The National Photography Prize is a biennial prize supported by the MAMA Art Foundation with a $30,000 award. As the oldest acquisitive photography prize in Australia, it has been instrumental in building MAMA’s strong photography collection.
Tiyan Baker & Sara Oscar are available for interview.
Murray Art Museum Albury National Photography Prize 2022 is proudly supported by the MAMA Art Foundation.
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