Ben Apfelbaum

ALISON MACKAY WINS 2020 GALLIPOLI ART PRIZE

The Gallipoli Art Prize worth $20,000 is awarded in both Australia and Turkey. The competition was launched in 2005 by the then Prime Minister John Howard. The overarching theme of the Prize is a work which reflects a creed of loyalty, courage, respect, comradeship and love of country.

This year’s Australian winner was St Georges Basin’s Alison Mackay. Her work was inspired by the recent horrific bushfires which also attacked where she lived on the South Coast.

Whilst fighting the fires with a mask issued by the Rural Fire Service, dodging embers, she was reminded of World War 1 and World War 2 soldiers in gas masks dodging bullets. This.experience was crystallised in her work ‘Breathe’ depicting different gas masks, mostly from World War 1.

Although the work was undertaken over late December and early January many people associate the work with the current corona virus pandemic. In all this frenzy the title entreats us to all take a moment to relax, destress and just breathe.

The judges also highly commended ‘Telegram’ by Lori Pensini of Boyup Brook, Western Australian for her painting of a woman receiving devastating news.

The winner and finalists were usually exhibited at the Gallipoli Memorial Club near Circular Quay. However this year they will be exhibited online using 360 degree photography and it will go live tomorrow.

http://www.gallipoliartprize.org.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.