Joan Ross Wins Blue World Prize for Ocean Advocacy

Joan Ross b. 1961, United Kingdom Follow +

Australian artist Joan Ross has won the inaugural Blue World: The Valerie Taylor Art Prize for Ocean Advocacy 2023.

The announcement was made at the Elston Room at Carriageworks, Sydney, on 8 June, which the United Nations has recognised as World Oceans Day since 2008.

Ross won the AU $40,000 prize for her work The beginning of greed (2023), a hand-painted digital print that depicts a European ship hauling a huge catch of fish while indigenous women observe from canoes. The work is set in 1890 in Kirribilli, now a suburb of Sydney, whose name translates to ‘good fishing spot’.

Ross said the work was inspired by her love of the ocean and ‘the car crash of colonisation’.

‘Snorkelling everyday reminds me of the fragile ecosystems that are under threat from climate change,’ Ross said.

Highly Commended prizes were awarded to Anna May Kirk for her sculptural installation Whale Fall (2023) and Teho Ropeyarn for his print Ipi (water, rain) (2023).

The awards were presented by Valerie Taylor, a conservationist, photographer, and filmmaker.

‘The artworks in the prize tell stories of a troubled ocean,’ Taylor said.

The annual prize is supported by philanthropist Rob Keldoulis, who heads the not-for-profit Blue World organisation.

Artworks submitted for the prize can be purchased here, with proceeds split between the artists and the Australian Marine Conservation Society. —[O]

Main image: Joan Ross, The beginning of greed (2023) (detail). Hand-painted digital print. 120 x 50 cm. Courtesy the artist and N.Smith Gallery, Sydney.