Boorowa Boasts 2022 National CapItal Art Prize Finalist

There are 65 finalists in the 2022 National Capital Art Prize that hail from NSW, and one of them comes from our very own Boorowa.

Harry Merriman is currently studying for a Masters in Fine Arts at UNSW, creating as much art as he can, entering competitions and getting proposals out, so learning he was a finalist in the prestigious Art Prize was good news.

“I probably found out at the end of last month,” Mr Merriman said. “It was obviously very gratifying. It felt really very nice.”

There are three categories in the Art Prize and Mr Merriman entered the Sustainability Prize.

“This artwork speaks about the waste we produce,” he said.

“The photo is of a big mound of mattresses that I took at the Boorowa tip.There was a giant pile of mattresses, and chairs, that they’ve since shredded. I went to the tip and tried to get pictures of the massive piles of rubbish.”

Mr Merriman grew up watching news reports, and worrying, about the environment. “I guess I was always concerned about environmental issues from a young age,” he said.

“Seeing things on the news, and they slowly worsened as I got older. Instead of worrying, I started creating artwork about it.”

Mr Merriman, along with the other finalists, will wait to learn whether or not they have won the coveted titles early next month.

Winners from across the three categories (Open Prize, First Nations Prize and Sustainability Prize) will each take home $15,000.

There is also a People’s Choice Award for which voting has commenced and will be awarded $2,500.

All finalists’ works will be displayed at the Finalist Exhibition at the Fitters’ Workshop in Canberra through late September and early October. Mr Merriman would love to learn that he had won as it would help both financially and in furthering his artwork.

“There are so few opportunities for artists to really get their name out there,” he said.

This year’s judges were blown away by the quality and standard of the entries that whittled down 129 finalists.

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• Arts & Media
• Awards