Emily Hartley Skudder (Pōneke Wellington) has been announced the winner of the Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Painting and Drawing 2023, and has collected her prize of $10,000 – sponsored by the Molly Morpeth Canaday (Whakatāne) Fund, presented by Arts Whakatāne with exhibition partners Whakatāne District council Museum and Library.
The award seeks to highlight and celebrate artistic excellence throughout Aotearoa – New Zealand. The winners are selected from a pool of entrants by three preliminary judges – this year; Hannah Ireland (artist and winner of MMCA Painting & Drawing – 2021), Leafā Wilson (curator, artist and art writer) and Susanna Shadbot (CEO for Te Manawa Museums Trust in Te Papaioea Palmerston North).
Emily’s winning work ‘Dishpan Hands’ (oil on linen, vinyl on aluminium composite panel, microfibre towel, aluminium) was chosen by Guest Judge Kelcy Taratoa as the winner from an impressive 454 entries nationwide.
Reflecting on the winning artwork, Taratoa said:
“The title ‘Dishpan Hands’ alludes to a skin condition, a consequence of repeated exposure, sensitivity to, and or overuse of cleaning products. These words, repetition, exposure and sensitivity should roam freely through one’s mind whilst viewing this work. Immediately we are thrust into our most private domestic space, the bathroom. Now add notions of ritual and privacy… These objects are not necessarily those in our own private space. But that doesn’t matter here, because we now see what is being reflected are our peculiar objects and products of choice. The strange things we use to say something distinct about ourselves, something meaningful, and something we can recognise. Our contemporary human condition, as a consequence of the capitalist ideology, has reduced identity and meaning to, “I am a worker, and I am a consumer”.”
Emily wasn’t able to be there in person as she has just started her Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in Ōtepoti Dunedin, but in a heartfelt acceptance video she shared:
“…in 2013 I had just finished university and was living in Ōpōtiki, and my work got in to the (MMCA) show, so ten years on exactly it’s very special to have won.”
According to Emily in her artist statement…
“My practice indulges in the artificial ordinary and the faux domestic – think life-sized dollhouses and carpeted bathrooms; colour-coordination to the extreme. The objects in my still lifes have connections to intimate aspects of our lives: cosmetics, sanitisers, cleaning products and snake-oil hygiene tools. I’m interested in our relationship with objects and what they reveal about the expectations we place on our bodies. For me, the bathroom is a gendered space of everyday ritual; a place to hide, wash, excrete, clean up, make up and break down. My works could be interpreted as strange, elaborate advertisements, but you’re never quite sure what they’re trying to sell you.”
Kelcy Taratoa awarded nine other prizes. The recipients are:
Akel Award
Landscape with Figure (Fracture) by Alan Ibell, Papaioea Palmerston North
Craigs Investment Partners Youth Award
Pakuranga Highs by Brunelle Dias, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Highly Commended sponsored by Robinson Law
This Is A Painting by Kaye McGarva, Maungawharau Havelock North
Highly Commended sponsored by Whakatāne Museum and Arts Charitable Trust
He kāwai whenua, he kāwai whakapapa by Maraea Timutimu, Tauranga
Highly Commended sponsored by Arts Whakatāne
Creature of Habit by Kirsty McLean, Ngāmotu New Plymouth
Merit sponsored by Gordon Harris
Beer and Skittles by Lucia Sidonio, Te Iringa o Kahukura Cashmere
Merit sponsored by Browne School of Art
Passengers by Tony Guo, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Merit sponsored by Frames by Daniel
Pleasure Pleaser by Ruby Wilkinson, Pōneke Wellington
Local Artist Merit sponsored by 4Artsake Gallery
Kōkōwai by Sarah Hudson
Visitors to the exhibition will decide a final award. The MMCA People’s Choice is arguably the most popular Molly Morpeth Canaday Award. Sponsored by The Whakatāne Society of Arts & Crafts, Anne Tolley and Diverse Graphics, this award is decided by popular vote and announced at the end of the exhibition – so make sure you get your votes in for your favourite!
The Molly Morpeth Canaday Painting & Drawing 2023 finalist’s exhibition runs until 19 March 2023 at the Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi – Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre, 49 Kakahoroa Drive, Whakatāne. All works are for sale.
Image: Emily Hartley-Skudder’s winning work Dishpan Hands, John Skudder, Gaye Murphy (MMCA Trustee), Leafā Wilson (Preliminary judge). Photo: Troy Baker.
