Art and photography awards
Blink Photography Awards 2020 - winners announced
Congratulations to the seven photographers whose images have been selected as winners of the City of Stirling's Blink Photography Awards 2020!
A striking image by Jesse Pretorius that captured a group of relaxed sun bathers in Hong Kong’s central Mong Kok district has taken the top honour in the City’s Blink Photography Awards 2020. The photographer described the image as juxtaposing the leisurely pursuit of sunbathing with the ongoing democratic protests happening in the region in late 2019.
Held every two years, the Blink Photography Awards offer a stunning showcase for innovative and original new works from Australian amateur photographers.
This year’s contest explored the theme “The world can change in the blink of an eye. When it does, we learn about ourselves and what we truly value” and entrants were encouraged to submit their strongest image that responded to the theme in one of four categories - People, Places, Altered and Open.
The City received close to 300 submissions this year, and 2020 marked the first time that the awards were held online.
An independent judging panel that represented the City’s values and diversity as well as the different aspects of photographic appreciation and expertise such as academia, community camera clubs and fine art reviewed this year’s entries. Many thanks to the judges Kim McAvoy, Dr Duncan Barnes, Glenn Iseger Pilkington and Albertina Ncube for their service.
The judging panel was extremely impressed with the quality of entries and the diversity of style, technique and subject matter presented.
The exhibition has now closed, with an extraordinary 11,588 visitors to the online gallery and 2,430 voters nominating their favourite for the People's Choice Award.
View the winners of the Awards highlighted below.
Best Photograph 2020
Winner was Jesse Pretorius with 'HK Bathers'.
HK Bathers is a 120 film photograph taken in Hong Kong in December of last year. It depicts a group of sun bathers in central Mong Kok district, this leisurely activity juxtaposes the ongoing democracy protests occurring at the same time. The image has been described by my lecturuers as reminiscent of Martin parr. Since taking it I have tried implementing more humour and surrealism into my street photography.
See the full image here.
Highly Commended People Category
Winner was Emilio Cresciani with ‘Entrapped’.
I arrived at the 1960’s red brick home built by my 95-year-old Nonno to catch up over a coffee. As I knocked on the back door his lonely figure, full of confusion, approached. I grabbed my camera to capture a raw, natural shot, full of emotion. He had once been POW in Germany, then a partisan fighting the Nazis in the Italian Alps but was now trapped in a body of dementia, caught in a web of fear. The flyscreen door is a symbol of entrapment. The door is a portal to a lost world, one that he had retreated from. But it also closets dementia from us, the community. This was probably the last image I took of him.
See the full image here.
Highly Commended: Places Category
Winner was Amanda Manning with ‘Australia within Australia’.
Tree clearing has had a major impact on agriculture. In the blink of an eye we have lost millions of hectares of arable land in Western Australia alone due to salinity. We now know the importance of our native trees. The shape of the salt-lake looks like Australia.
See the full image here.
Highly Commended: Altered Category
Winner was Mitchell Page with ‘Pride’.
This image is a personal celebration of me and represents my journey to finding pride within myself. The falling legs crashing through the piece represent to me how daunting it can be as a young person to fully accept yourself for who you are and live your life authentically. However, I wanted to juxtapose that feeling with the bright, fresh and natural looking elements to point out that once you cross that hurdle you will find amazing things on the other side.
See the full image here.
Highly Commended: Open Category
Winner was Phillip Elliot with ‘Gulp’.
We must try harder. In a media landscape saturated with negative headlines, how can we present information to children on complex and challenging issues in a way that informs and promotes engagement with the world? We must do better.
See the full image here.
Winner City of Stirling Resident Award
Alan Rogers with ‘Safe to Dance’.
This was taken in the summer of 2020 just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. We took if for granted being able to dance, touch and interact with the other people. Months later we’re told not to congregate in public, distance ourselves from others – dancing was not safe anymore. Thankfully things are starting to feel normal again. Please don’t take your freedoms and privileges for granted, they can be taken away from you in the blink of an eye.
See the full image here.
Best Photograph by a Young Entrant (less than 18 years)
Winner was Annabelle Watling with ‘Remorse’.
This reflection upon the catastrophic 2019 bushfires, challenges the viewer to take responsibility for their contribution to global warming. The youth’s confronting gaze, a judgement on the sudden unprecedented losses of our cherished flora and fauna.
See the full image here.
Winner People's Choice Awards
Winner was Cody Nahirny with ‘Inspired by Platon’.
We shot this at an abandoned saddle club. This Platon inspired portrait aims to remove everything unnecessary and leave behind a portrait full of attitude and emotion.
See the full image here
| Key dates |
|---|
| Entries open | 16 October 2020 |
| Entries close | 8 November 2020 |
| Exhibition launched online | 12 November 2020 |
| People’s choice voting opens | 12 November 2020 |
| Category and special award winners announced | 16 November 2020 |
| Exhibition and People’s choice voting closes | 30 November 2020 |
| People’s choice winner announced | 1 December 2020 |
*Dates are subject to change
For more information including queries regarding accessibility and alternative formats, please contact the Arts Project Officer on (08) 9205 8555 or email photo@stirling.wa.gov.au.