The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre
An innovative multi-arts hub in the heart of Blacktown City.
‘We were slightly overwhelmed by the diversity and number of entries this year, a true reflection of the vibrancy and potential of our local arts community. The finalists selected demonstrate a remarkable range of technical skill and storytelling ability. We believe audiences will have a lot to enjoy with this finalists exhibition, you’ll see artists who are refining their visual language and addressing personal narratives and the significant issues of our time.’
– Jasmine Sarin, Luke Létourneau and Morgan Hogg (2025 judging panel)
Start your year of art with the 2025 Blacktown City Art Prize exhibition at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre!
Now in its 29th year, the prize is an open-call, open-themed opportunity for artists locally and nationally to exhibit their work and have a chance to win 1 of 5 cash prizes!
The 2025 exhibition showcases the creativity of Blacktown’s community at its heart.
All works will be available for purchase. Don’t miss your chance to acquire a unique piece from some of Australia’s most exciting established and emerging talents.
Want to have your say who takes home a prize? Vote for your favourite artwork in the People’s Choice Prize. The winner will be announced in the final week of the exhibition.
Please note that voting for the People’s Choice Prize will be available in-person only.
The full list of finalists can be found below.
Judges
Jasmine Sarin is a proud Kamilaroi and Jerrinja woman from NSW. Jasmine grew up predominantly on the South Coast in Nowra (Jerrinja and Yuin country) and Wollongong (Dharawal country) but has country influences from Coonabarabran in Central West NSW (Kamilaroi country). She currently lives, works and plays in the Sydney area.
Jasmine is a self-taught visual artist and graphic designer. Her artwork tells the story of personal experiences growing up and her ongoing journey in this world. This allows Jasmine to bring contemporary methods and concepts to the oldest culture on earth.
Luke Létourneau is a curator and arts manager, and is currently employed as Curatorial and Collections Lead at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. Luke has experience commissioning and developing new works across multiple artforms, programming for Western Sydney audiences, and developing curatorial projects through engagement with creative and cultural groups in south-west Sydney.
Recent projects include ‘Adaptation’ (2020), ‘Looking at Gold’ (2022) and ‘Jamming with strangers’ (2022) which was the winner of Exhibition Projects [Large Organisations] at the IMAGinE Awards 2022. Luke also regularly contributes writing to national arts publications and artist catalogues.
Morgan Hogg is an emerging artist and creative producer of Cook Island Māori (Ngāti Tāne), Tahitian and English descent, living and working on unceded Wangal and Dharug lands. Through the perspective of her Kūki Airani heritage, Hogg utilises installation and performance as visual representations of her own exploration of cultural displacement and identity. Making space within her practice to rely on oral exchange between her familial relations and community, Hogg continues the story of her ancestry through maintaining traditional practices within a contemporary lens.
She has completed a double degree in a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Hons)/ Bachelor of Advanced Studies (Film studies) at Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney. Currently studying a Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Sydney. Hogg has exhibited and performed works at Firstdraft, Performance Space, Beirut Art Centre, Sculpture by the Sea, Bankstown Arts Centre, SCA Gallery, Casula Powerhouse, PICA, Carriageworks and the Art Gallery of NSW.
Winners and Highly Commended
Blacktown City Art Prize Winners:
Main Prize
Monica Rani Rudhar
Imitation Earrings
ceramics (terracotta, glaze, lustre, brass)
First Nations Artist Prize
Lisa Michl
Sour Yam
acrylic and ink on arches watercolour paper 640gsm cold pressed
Local Artist Prize
Erik Shahmoradian
A Mother’s Love
ceramic glaze
Early Career Artist Prize
Tuifua Huakau
Kumete
recycled wood and resin
Highly commended – First Nations Artist Prize
Leanne Tobin
Bara
blown glass
Highly commended – Local Artist Prize
Holly-Lee Dickson
Self-Refraction
acrylic on canvas, digital image projection onto glitter-coated canvas
Highly commended – Early Career Prize
Renay Smith
Thank Goodness We Didn’t Stop Those Boats or ‘The Top Ten Best Bahn Mi in Sydney’
acrylic on canvas
Highly commended – Blacktown City Art Prize
Jacquie Meng
I <3 Syd
oil on canvas
Hedar Abadi
Yearning For Rain
oil on canvas
Finalists
Hedar Abadi
Yearning for Rain
oil on canvas
Caleb Arcifa
Sonant Autograph of Joini (If I Ain’t Got You)
photography/mixed media
Emmanuel Asante
Euphoria I
acrylic paint
Rubyrose Bancroft
Ngullingah Jugun ‘Our Country’
acrylic on canvas
Pippita Bennett
Silver light, Flinders Ranges
textiles
Liam Benson
Slow Dance
watercolour and acrylic on paper
Lee Bethel
Notice to the Startled Grass
encaustic on paper on board
Brittany Bishop
Tread Lightly
glazed earthenware
Kiera Brew Kurec
Lara, Victoria Street, 2024
photograph
Laura Bright
Echoes of Us
air dry clay on board
Virginia Bucknell
The Agony
acrylic paint on stretched canvas
Kristone Capistrano
The Earth Melts Away
dual sided drawing, charcoal, burnt branches and sandpaper on paper; mounted on custom wooden stand
Jugni Chaudhry
Kiswa
acrylics and gold with texture on canvas
Shinhye Choi
Wrapped in celadon
stoneware
Zander Clark
Bushranger 008
oil, wood & rope on linen
Carolyn Craig
Structured intent
screenprint on fabric
Emma Depares
Impressions of the Cumberland Plain Woodland
eco-print on cotton fabric
Tom Dickinson
Who We Are // Where We Come From
mixed-media interactive installation
Holly-Lee Dickson
Self-Refraction
acrylic on canvas, digital image projection onto glitter-coated canvas
Damian Dillon
Contemporary ruin #6
high resolution uv digital print on white steel, black plastic pallet
Danielle Dominici
Gung Gung (Frog)
textiles and fibre
Danny Eastwood
Kookaburra Bragging
acrylic on canvas
Emily Ebbs
We found pink behind the wool shed
pokeberry weed dye, eucalyptus dye, red gum dye, iron water on muslin
Corrigan Fairbairn
Out of the blue
wood, stainless steel, acrylic paint
Dongwang Fan
Submersion
acrylic on canvas
Nix Francia
One’s promised
oil on canvas
Jae George
Doomscroll Machine
oil on linen
Minka Gillian
Magical Thinking Talisman
basket, lucky charms, wooden hand, braid, modelling paste, paint, polystyrene, felt
Keroshin Govender
Cu-vun-dar
terracotta, cobalt glaze, cobalt carbonate, underglaze, paint, acrylic medium, gold lustre
Jody Graham
My Truth
found urban detritus, zipper, make-up brush, plaster, acrylic and aerosol paint
Danielle Hagan
All-consuming
acrylic, oil and gold leaf on wood panel
Kate Hansen
Topography 1
oil stick and acrylic on canvas
Adrienne Horsnell Proud
Homebody
ink on paper
Tuifua Huakau
Kumete
recycled wood and resin
Starphire Jacobs
Star Sister
painting printed on fabric and framed
Criton Kasby
The tragedy that is Gaza
acrylic
Virginia Keft
Wuru Watching
raffia, wire, assemblage
Hyun Hee Lee
Fragments of Memories
silk, organza, chalk, silk thread, korean hanji paper
Tara Lloyd
gungun badumada
hand carved coolamon from grey gum eucalyptus tree
Mark Mailler
Blue, Bluff, Tragic & Mainstay
photomedia
Samuel Massey
Opening Night
oil on aluminium
Annabelle McEwen
Echo: Autofabrication
polylactic acid and polyethylene terephthalate glycol print (3d print)
Juanita McLauchlan
Yawi/ Spirit
woodcut on gold leaf cotton thread
Jacquie Meng
I <3 Syd
oil on canvas
Lisa Michl
Sour Yam
acrylic and ink on arches watercolour paper 640gsm cold pressed
Karlina Mitchell
Tevutevu
photographic sculpture
Nolan Murphy
Mother photograph
inkjet print
Lesley Murray
What do we see?
ceramic sculpture
Grazia Napoletano
All My Friends from We Are Studios
polymer paint on canvas
Phuong Ngo
VESSELS THAT LEAK FROM THE TOP #2 (By art duo SLIPPAGE)
‘roundup’ altered glazed stoneware, archival pigment prints, wooden ammunition crate
Samantha Paxton
Carry On
charcoal, chalk and soluble pencil on tinted fabriano watercolour paper
Jasmine Poole
Suburban Shrouds
pigment print on etching rag
Emily Portmann
Self Soother, Action Two
archival inkjet print
Isobel Rayson
Either way
wall-based relief wood carving
Monica Rani Rudhar
Imitation Earrings
ceramics (terracotta, glaze, lustre, brass)
Peter Rush
Blacktown – Bus Only
pen and pencil on paper
Justin Sayarath
HOLIDAY HUES – Series II
oil pastel on linen
Julie Scifo
hi vis
acrylic paint on canvas
Geoff Sellman
Teach me how to fly
acrylic
Erik Shahmoradian
A Mother’s Love
ceramic glaze
Anjali Sharma
Dharug Elders
posca acrylic paint marker
Renay Smith
Thank Goodness We Didn’t Stop Those Boats or ‘The Top Ten Best Bahn Mi in Sydney
acrylic on canvas
Jane Taverner
Another Day, Another Femicide
textile
Jess Taylor
Year Zero (Call Me Little Sunshine)
3d printed resin, dye, gold leaf, paint, chain, fixings
Kashmira Thanawalla
Decorated Sacred Cow
water colours & poster colours
Jessica Tobin
When we lose a elder, we lose a library
acrylic paint, paper, glue and black tea on canvas
Leanne Tobin
Bara
blown glass
Lindsay Webb
Families
photo-media pigment print on archival cotton rag
Agus Wijaya
Wapulu
hand-detailed digital sculpture with mounted archival pigment printing on art canvas
Dominic Willkom
Rumination
oil on canvas
Patrice Wills
Alicia
oil on cradled wood panel
Estelle Yoon
Portrait of My Mother (엄마의 초상화)
35mm photograph, glass
Fozia Zahid
The Petrified Sisters
gouache
Xin (Sylvia) Zi
Dark Cloud
glazed porcelain
The Blacktown City Art Prize is presented by Blacktown Arts and supported by Blacktown City Council and the NSW Government through Create NSW.
The 2025 Blacktown City Art Prize is proudly sponsored by Ford Land Company and Workers Lifestyle Group.
