Phoenix Prize 2007

The Phoenix Prize for Spiritual Art was established in 2005 through funds made available by the then Christian Media Association ACT Inc.

In 2007 there were 173 entries, of which 38 were selected for the Prize exhibition at the ANU School of Art Gallery throughout April.

My work "Emergence 1: The Transfiguration" started as a process of complex pattern formation in which 5,000 cable ties where looped together into a larger more complex whole. The work ended up making itself, and the process of creation took about 6 months.

"Emergence 1: The Transfiguration". Dimensions variable within 315.0 x 400.0 x 120.0cm.

Photograph by Margaret Kalms

"... on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses ... wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening ... delivered from the disquietude of this world ..."

It has been interesting for me to see how people react to the work, which was first exhibited at the M16 Artspace in Canberra. At that time people had some difficulty with the religious symbols that were inherent to the work.

The ambiguity of these symbols was made more perplexing because of the transformation of fairly modest and humble materials. I was very pleased that Margaret Kalms, my photographer, was able to capture the essence of the piece in the pictures she took to document the work.

The judges selected my work " ... for its transformation of modest, mundane and humble materials; for its formal qualities, using the relation of elements on the ground plane to elements on the wall to create a soaring and dynamic composition; for its ambiguous use of symbols (the circle on the floor; and the form on the wall which might be a cruciform, or it might be an atmospheric effect such as a tornado, or another kind of human artifact such as a mushroom cloud); and for its multilayered and shifting character, that at once can present its spikes (which perhaps evoke a crown of thorns) as both sharp and soft, or its flickering response to the light as both simple and mysterious."