Central Queensland

Title: Fragile Blossoms
Medium: Sculpture
School: Whitsunday Anglican School

Artist Statement:
When immersed in the landscape of Cape Hillsborough National Park, it dawned on me how fragile nature really is. Fragile Blossoms represents how beautiful and yet how delicately the environment needs to be treated by humans. Created with glass, the petals sparkle in the light, which is aesthetically stimulating, and yet they could be easily broken. Glass is made from sand, which connects to the beach, and the other materials are heavily processed man-made which represents our attitude towards nature; viewing it as a resource to be ‘used’ rather than appreciated and protected. This artwork serves as a reminder that we must protect and treat our environment with the utmost care. Fragile Blossoms is a call for action to appreciate the surrounding natural beauty and take responsibility for protecting it for future generations. Our planet is a precious gift that needs to be cherished and protected.

Title: Ephemeral Reverence
Medium: Installation
School: Whitsunday Anglican School

Artist Statement:
Ephemeral Reverence explores the reality of the relationship between humanity and the natural world, exploring the emotional responses evoked by the manipulation of orchids. The translucent red orchids and other flora serve as symbols of nature’s beauty and fragility. The mirror is presented on an easel, forcing viewers to confront their own image amidst the fragile flora, and encouraging an introspective examination of personal impact. The juxtaposition of the serene natural elements with the human presence captured in the reflection underscored the tension between the desire to admire nature and the tendency to explore it. By presenting nature in an unconventional setting, the artwork seeks to create a dissonance that provokes thought and dialogue about the consequences of our collective choices. Through this work, the comment made aims to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation for the natural world, encouraging a more sustainable approach to human interaction with it.

Title: Duelling Duality
Medium: Sculpture
School: Rockhampton State High School

Artist Statement:
The context is both personal and contemporary. I have incorporated myself and personal messages, but used contemporary elements (identities, theories). My alternative approach was the interactive element of spinning the large drawings. It allows the audience to spin the piece and consider which side they really resonate with. The materials I used include A1 paper, alcohol/Copic markers and corflute. I used a simple drawing technique but incorporated texture through things like stippling.

Title: connected
Medium: Painting
School: Gladstone State High School

Artist Statement:
Continued under my focus of escapism with the twist of exploring a lack of human connection. The concept of distance is literally implemented into my artwork through contemporary display. A wooden cutout is attached in front to encourage audience interaction and interpretation of the escapism concept.

Title: The Sight of Music
Medium: Film/electronic imaging
School: St Ursula’s College

Artist Statement:
The initial idea was developed from listening and researching music. This research led me to use the animation app procreate dream which is meant for artists to elevate their work from still images to stop motion. Throughout the process of creating my artwork, I not only learnt how to use the app better but also learnt new ways to implement other contexts within this work. This is especially seen within the last clip of the work where I’ve added a video of myself and my physical reactions the song and lyrics to add another level of personal context.

Title: Just Around Midnight
Medium: Digital manipulation of performance art
School: Tannum Sands State High School

Artist Statement:
This artwork is a series of still-shots taken from my kitchen bench. I positioned my camera to capture as much of the kitchen as possible and used the timer function to capture myself posing with various appliances. I wanted to make it look like a time-lapse of me searching for something in the late of night. Using Photoshop, I layered the images on top of each other and removed the backgrounds, to reveal just myself interacting with a certain item. This allowed me to make the artwork appear as if there are multiple versions of myself in one photograph.

Title: TEOOACC
Medium: Video
School: Yeppoon State High School

Artist Statement:
The film was photographed on a Canon m50 Mark II, excluding royalty free stock sourced from Pexels and Pixabay, which were only highlighted momentarily during flashing moments (free public stock footage libraries). The entire film was composed in Davinci Resolve 17 with several colour node pipelines to effectively emulate the essence of analogue film print. The bulk of non-diegetic sound was sourced from a public domain sound library, soundly. Score was composed by Noah Bailey in Waveform 12 with a plethora of royalty free VST midi plugins. No sounds were captured on set and were implemented in post via ADR.

Title: African-Aussie
Medium: Mixed media: acrylic on canvas, cotton, African wax print fabric, synthetic hair, faux pearl and wooden beads, and video
School: Lighthouse Christian School

Artist Statement:
I painted 2 contrasting portraits that embodied the fusion of my African heritage and Australian identity, mixing acrylics to depict my rich, deep skin tone. Using a wet sponge for the backgrounds, I created blue and orange aura-like gradients to foreshadow the audience’s controlled and later delighted receptions of me in uniform and traditional attire. Adding real hair, clothing and accessories enhanced the texture and depth, reinforcing that culture is not merely an abstract concept—it communicates lived experiences. Finally, I screwed the canvases into a triangular formation and hung it with thread to symbolize fragility and search for stability.

Title: Connected
Medium: Printmaking, watercolour and collage
School: Whitsunday Anglican School

Artist Statement:
Working from a photograph, the image has etched and printed using traditional printmaking methods. The work was then hand-watercolour painted and collaged in selective areas.