[Photo by Phillip Biggs]
We are very proud to congratulate Jo Chew, who has been announced a winner in this years Glover Prize! Jo was selected as the winner of the acquisitive $75,000 prize from forty two finalists, by judges William Nuttal, Director of Niagara Gallery; Suzanne Cotter, Director Museum of Contemporary Art and artist, Lucienne Rickard. The annual prize celebrates the legacy of colonial artist John Glover and is judged on the best contemporary landscape painting of Tasmania. Defined in its broadest sense, each landscape painting must stimulate conversations about the meaning and possibilities expressed in the words landscape, painting and Tasmania.
Jo’s winning artwork ‘Tender’ [oil on linen 183 x 127] comments on the worsening housing crisis across Tasmania, helping to raise awareness about a growing social problem across the country. Pushing the definition of a traditional landscape, Jo’s painting follows directly on from her PhD research into the contemporary understanding of dwellings and the human condition that makes us long for connection and a sense of place.
“Images of tents and caravans were frequently in the news at the beginning of 2018 when my daughter and I moved back to Hobart. We lived with my parents for a year, unable to find a rental we could afford. It was easy to see why more and more people were forced into solutions like setting up a temporary home at the Showgrounds – an option that will cease within the coming months. This painting is a reflection on a broken housing market, and a rental market that prevents many from entering it.”