Congratulations to Jo Chew for winning the Emerging Artist Prize as part of the Tasmanian Womens Art Prize 2022, with her work Growing Blind [2022 oil on canvas 170 x 120 cm].
A memorial to victims of domestic violence, this painting depicts a hunting blind – a shelter that reveals inequality, privileging the already more powerful hunter. But here, extracted, exposed, and set against a sea, different readings emerge – perhaps here it is a refuge, a hiding place for the vulnerable.
For 20 years, the Womens Art Prize Tasmania has celebrated and showcased the passions and talents of women artists across our Island home of lutruwita/Tasmania, becoming an integral part of Tasmania’s arts and cultural landscape. An annual award, the prize is the state’s only female art competition and aims to support women artists in Tasmania, by identifying, promoting, encouraging and celebrating exceptional local and emerging talent.
Jo Chew was one of twenty five finalists, including other Despard Gallery artists Zoe Grey, Lisa Garland and Penny Burnett. Congratulations to all the finalists and we are very proud to represent such a strong and diverse range of creative talent.