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Performance and video artist EO GILL is the winner of the 2018 NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship. Pictured (left to right): New South Wales Minister for the Arts Don Harwin; EO Gill; Artspace executive director Alexie Glass-Kantor; manager of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Collection at the Australia Museum, Shani Jones. Photo Zan Wimberley. Courtesy Artspace, Sydney.
On November 15, the Sydney-based non-profit Artspace and New South Wales (NSW) Government-funded arts organization Create NSW announced Tempe-based performance and video artist EO Gill as the winner of the 2018 NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship. Gill will use the AUD 30,000 (USD 21,750) grant to undertake a three-month training program across Toronto, Montreal and New York, including mentorships under Toronto-based academic TL Cowan and performance and video artist Bridget Moser.
Gill’s video and performance-based practice investigates gender, intimacy, and queer perspectives, with a particular focus on the Australian suburban contexts in which the artist spent their childhood. Gill was recognized for their “multi-disciplinary work [that] navigates intimacy and queer identity with a delicate sense of levity,” as stated in Create NSW’s official award announcement. The artist holds a Bachelor of Arts in film and performance from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a Master of Fine Art from UNSW Art & Design. Gill has presented commissioned works at Campbelltown Arts Centre; the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for the C3West program; and the Performance Space at Carriageworks.
The NSW government-supported Fellowship is open to applications by emerging artists practicing in the southeastern Australian state, and adjudicated by an independent panel of “art industry peers,” according to the Create NSW website. This year’s panel consisted of committee chair Sharni Jones, manager of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Collection at the Australia Museum; Megan Monte, director of Cement Fondu Gallery; Bega Valley Regional Gallery director Iain Dawson; and interdisciplinary artist Consuelo Cavaniglia, recipient of the 2016 NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship.
The 2018 Fellowship finalists also include multimedia artist JD Reforma, visual artist Kieran Butler, and new-media artist Jodie Whalen. A group exhibition presenting works by the ten finalists is on view at Artspace, Sydney, until December 16, 2018.
Dennis Mao is an editorial intern of ArtAsiaPacific.
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