Sounding Silence #1 2014 type C photograph 141 x 111.5 cm. Image: courtesy the artist and Stills Gallery, Sydney.
Sydney photographer Justine Varga has been shortlisted for the 2014 NSW Visual Arts Fellowship (Emerging) among a small group of 12 finalists from across the State.
In conjunction with Artspace and ArtNSW, the 2014 presentation of the Fellowship will be curated as an exhibition by Artspace Executive Director Alexie Glass-Kantor and Artspace Curator of Programs Sam Zammit, who will both work closely with finalists to further develop their work for the exhibition.
One finalist will be selected for the Fellowship, which has a $30,000 cash prize, on the opening night.
Varga said that the 2014 program also sees more dialogue between the works in the show. ‘Rather than each artist with a single space in the gallery, there will be a lot more dialogue going on.’
Taking out the Fellowship would help Varga to undertake a program of study, research and studio practice as outlined in her application. ‘To be able to go meet with certain artists and carry out residencies, that would definitely impact on your work and development. That’s incredibly important as an emerging artist – it would be just fantastic.’
Equally, the Fellowship would allow Varga to continue her passion for analogue photography, nurtured at the National Art School while completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2005 followed by a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) in 2007.
‘Within that course you do a lot of dark room photography and I still continue that practice with analogue processes in both colour and black and white.’
‘I’m interested in the process of the analogue medium and what that means today. The way I approach it is to think about it in the round, and I keep returning to the materiality of analogue process. It’s not to say that one is better than the other, it’s just what I am interested in.’
With the forthcoming NAS Open Day approaching, Varga reflects on her time at NAS. ‘The amount of contact hours you have with your lecturers is really quite incredible. The more that I have had to do with other institutions immediately reiterates to me how valuable it is to have that contact with your lecturers.’
Varga said that she also would be undertaking a residency in London through the Australia Council at the end of August.
Applications to the National Art School are currently invited for a range of full-time programs in 2015.
For more information register for Open Day on Saturday 30 August or visit the National Art School website.
