People’s Choice and Wai Tang Commissioning Award winners revealed in 2022 Bowness Photography competition
Part of the 17th annual William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, the MGA and the MGA Foundation have just announced the winners of the Wai Tang Commissioning Award and the 2022 Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award. Andrea Francolini was named winner of the People’s Choice Award, receiving $5,000, for his work, Read my lips, while artist Janelle Low received the Wai Tang Commissioning Award for her image, Untitled III (from the family archives) 2021, from the series, Disintegrate.
Both Low and Francolini were selected from the shortlist of 54 work in the 2022 edition of the Bowness Photography Prize. Competition judges this year included acclaimed artist Rosemary Laing, Director of Agency and Senior Curator, Museums and Collections at University of Melbourne, Hannah Presley, as well as MGA Director Anouska Phizacklea.
“I was already over the moon to have been selected as a finalist in this year’s Bowness Photography Prize exhibition. Then to see my image used on a banner was even more overwhelming,” Francolini said. “Of course, one enters a competition – especially of this calibre –hoping to win or at least be selected as a finalist. To win the People’s Choice Award was really special. I was a bit speechless when I received the call and am so honoured due to the calibre of the other images which made the final selection.”
In 2013, Low became the second female and youngest winner of the National Photographic Portrait Prize presented by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, and was selected as a finalist in the Bowness Photography Prize in both 2017 and again in 2022.
Melbourne artist Amos Gebhardt won the 2022 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, and took home the $30,000 first prize for their winning work, Wallaby (2022).
Wai Tang Commissioning Award
The Wai Tang Commissioning Award has been established by Wai Tang’s husband, Kee Wong, to recognise and honour her significant impact on the arts and preserve her legacy within MGA’s collection and exhibition history. The $10,000 award will contribute meaningful assistance for an artist to present an exhibition that will coincide with the 2023 Bowness Photography Prize exhibition season, with one work acquired into MGA’s significant collection of Australian photographs in honour of Wai Tang’s legacy.
Wai Tang served on MGA’s Committee of Management from 2018 until she passed away in 2020. Her expertise included more than 30 years of experience in the retail and wholesale manufacturing industries where she held senior executive roles and non-Executive Director's role in public and private companies. Her commitment to the visual and performing arts was demonstrated through her leadership roles and philanthropic support.
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