Queensland artists Leigh Camilleri and Lyn Derrick are thrilled to be awarded $10,000 (600,000 Yen) by judges from the Kobe Art Biennale in Japan.  The money will be used to complete the team’s entry to the Biennale and for travel to the competition in Japan in October where thirty Japanese and International competitors will vie for the top prize of  $45,000  (3,000,000Yen). 

Artists in the Kobe Biennale have been challenged to create an artwork that makes us think about how we affect our environment and how we might strive to build a more nurturing relationship with our surroundings.  
 
Camilleri and Derrick’s artwork will feature two migrating species, which are linked to Queensland and to Japan: whales and Curlews (a migrating bird).  They will combine large drawings of whale flukes on transparent film, projections, light effects and sound recordings will recreate an underwater world.  This exhibit will include the eerie cries of Curlews and the tolling of bells to warn of the dangers that humans present.

Leigh Camilleri says, “I first visited Moreton Bay at the age of three months. As a family, we spent weeks at a time watching the area change with the seasons and living off  catches from the water. I saw stingrays, manta rays, sharks, whales and dugongs every day. I watched the tides, sailed with the winds, and heard the cries of Curlews pierce the night. It was a childhood that is now like a beautiful dream.  To develop a piece of art that might invite people worldwide into this memory is something that I, as an artist, cry out for - to share an experience.”

Leigh Camilleri has a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the Queensland University of Technology and has been a full-time artist since 2003.  Her work was used in the Warners Brother film ‘Fools Gold’.  Camilleri has been a finalist in numerous art prizes including the Waterhouse Prize, the Border Art Prize and the Jacaranda Drawing Award.

Lyn Derrick graduated with a Diploma in Fine Art from the Brisbane Institute of Art in 2002.  A finalist in the Heysen Prize, Stanthorpe Art Prize and Ergon Energy Art Award, she works as a full-time artist from her Brisbane studio.

When asked how the project started,  Lyn Derrick said, “inspiration comes in the strangest ways.  Last year, I saw several large abandoned chicken sheds.  Dilapidated climate control tarpaulins lined the sides of each shed.  I photographed the tarpaulins floating and drifting in the darkened space and imagined them as a huge whale accompanied by the sounds of the breeze ruffling the tattered fabric.  This provided the catalyst for our Kobe “Art in a Container” entry.”

More information is available from: www.leighcamilleri.com

 

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