National Contemporary Art Awards 2023

I entered the work The Wrack Line that I started creating originally for the July seminar/assessment into the National Contemporary Art Awards (NCAA) at the Waikato Museum and was accepted as one of the 43 finalists of the 470 odd entries. I always feel like a kid on Christmas morning when this kind of thing happens, don’t expect it but it’s a nice pleasant surprise. And my kids love seeing my work in public spaces, especially my son son so it’s a nice thing to experience with my family.

I delivered my work to the Waikato Museum in the middle of the July seminar week. The award ceremony of the NCAA was held on 28 July and the exhibition opened publicly the following day. Was a fairly quiet event with artists, guests, sponsor representatives and gallery staff. The 2023 judge was arts curator Melanie Oliver. My daughter went with me to the awards night which was special, I didn’t really know anyone there so always feel a bit out of place. Was exciting to see my name on the wall though - that’s a first! I did not win any of the awards but it was a good experience. Was interesting to see the work in a large space and observe how people interacted with the work. The Wrack Line was displayed on a plinth which was around knee height. The Waikato Museum staff leased with me about the display arrangements. They seemed quite concerned people might steal pieces off the work. There were 125 bioplastic pieces with debris from the wrack line at Papamoa Beach and I supplied 10 more just in case gaps needed filling over the course of the exhibition. I will be interested to see how the work lasts until the exhibition closes in November. I do not doubt the bioplastic will last but unsure how the encased organic matter will fair, if it will decay or decompose or even if mould will grow.

I remember from the the critiques from April seminar how several people said that having work lower invites the viewer to come down to it to look at it. People seem reluctant to do that though. My daughter told some people to get in close to look at it all the pieces encased in the bioplastic. Observing how people seem hesitant to get low, makes me reluctant to put work on the floor though as there are some interesting qualities and textures that are present in the material if it’s looked at closely. Maybe this is lost and wasted being on the floor?

It was great to see the variation of works. I would like to go back before the exhibition closes and walk through when it’s quieter and take time to look properly at all the works.