Artworks by Brisbane Adventist College Year 12 students Mattia and Zara were selected for exhibition at the Creative Generation Excellence Awards in Visual Art earlier this month. Exhibited in Windsor, Creative Generation celebrates the best Year 12 work from across Queensland and is designed to inspire other high school Art students to develop works with greater conceptual complexity and aesthetic interest.
We are incredibly proud of our contributing artists! Click on the titles of each artwork below to see their full submission.
- In Case I don't like me by Mattia Howard | Commendation Award
Artist's Statement: The art of self-acceptance is dependent on the ability to recognise abnormality. Concealing insecurities and covering ‘flaws’ is common among those who lack an inner stillness. So often we compare our own traits and behaviours to others’ only to realise that normal is the average of abnormality. Can “normal” ever be truly defined? ‘In Case I Don’t Like Me’ presents a contextually personal journey through masking behaviours deemed uncomfortable or abnormal. Exploration of the term ‘normal’ has led to recognition that insecurities are no less valuable than strengths. Inspired by the works of Joseph Lee and Stephanie Hogg, ‘In Case I Don’t Like Me’ combines the absence of self-acceptance and insecure masking through tantalising colours of acrylic and impasto medium to contrast the belief that “normal” can be defined. - Why am I the way I am? by Zara Shepherd
Artist's Statement: The present cannot exist without the past. Individuality exists because of past experiences. And so comes the bittersweet experience of recollecting the defining moments of our lives and asking the question ‘why am I the way I am?’ Through the process of categorising my life, I concluded five defining moments and created them through personal and contemporary contexts, drawing inspiration from artists Sandra Silberzweig and Maria Zaikina. They are displayed as self-portraits through my personal and non-traditional associations with the formal elements of art including colour, form, proportion, composition, and space. The symbols throughout the collection represent two different emotions, the amount found on each artwork represents how present that emotion was during that time. The middle portrait is my current self. A combination of all the colours and shapes evenly distributed, symbolising that I am the combination of my past experiences and the way I view the world today is the result of that. - View the virtual exhibition here.
