The Mandy Martin Art & Environment Award was awarded to Erica SecCombe who will use the award to create new work exploring Laser-Cuts and AI imagery Depicting the Melting and Majesty of Icebergs through Halftone Patterns, Woodblock Prints, and the Fragility of Memory.
For the Mandy Martin Art and Environment Award, Erica proposed new work ‘Fleeting Encounters’ which explores the ephemeral nature of icebergs in the context of global warming. As these natural ice sculptures melt and vanish due to rising temperatures, they transition from a physical reality to a distant memory. This project captures the transient beauty and fragility of icebergs through a combination of wood, laser cutting, woodblock printing, AI-generated imagery, and halftone patterns. These elements create intricate representations that serve as both a memorial and a warning. Erica is in the very early stages of testing the materiality and possibilities of this project and her rationale aligns with the intention with the Mandy Martin Award.
Mandy Martin was a pre-eminent Australian artist who called Canberra – and later, Central West NSW – home. She was a lecturer at the Canberra School of Art from 1978 to 2003. Hers was an international and national reputation, seeking as she did to explore landscape and the environment through the lens of its degradation and destruction through industrial imposition, about which she had felt so very strongly.
Her body of work encompassed printmaking, painting and large scale collaborative installation works, and is held in the collections of every major public gallery in Australia; the Guggenheim Museum in New York; the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; and in many private collections.
In honor of Mandy Martin’s life work, her family have created national annual award of $7,500, to be awarded to an arts practitioner for their creative response to climate change and the environment, managed through the Capital Arts Patrons’ Organisation (CAPO).