Lu Forsberg Wins Jeremy Hynes Award 2017
By Alice Dingle
Brisbane-based artist Lu Forsberg has been awarded the fifth Jeremy Hynes Award, granted by Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art (IMA). Forsberg’s win of the biennial prize was announced at the museum’s Annual Party on October 28. The award gifts AUD 10,000 (USD 7,700), provided by the Jeremy Hynes Estate, to an experimental Queensland artist in the early stages of their career.
A recent graduate from the Queensland University of Technology, Forsberg’s submission for the prize is a video work titled Earthwork 3 (Assemblage Rig) (2017), depicting a virtual bird’s-eye view of the five bauxite mining areas of Australia, spanning from the southern region of Western Australia, up to the Northern Territory, and across to Northern Queensland. The work aims to embody the often “psychologically distanced relationship to mining” and its effects on the planet. Working predominately with new media, assemblage and sculpture, Forsberg’s practice examines sociopolitical issues within the Australian landscape, exploring the intersection of environmental, social and economic systems.
Jeremy Hynes was a prominent artist in Brisbane in the 1990s who was known for his experimental performance works that were executed all over Australia, including at the IMA. The other three artists shortlisted for the award’s 2017 installment were Michael Candy, Naomi Blacklock and Elizabeth Willing, who in turn joined Forsberg in having their creations displayed at the IMA in the four weeks leading up to the Institute’s announcement of the winner. Since its inception in 2009, previous winners of the Jeremy Hynes Award have been Aaron Burton (2009), Alex Cuffe (2011), Chris Howlett (2013) and Liam O’Brien (2015).
Alice Dingle is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.
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