The Blake Prize is an Australian art prize awarded for religious art; in existence since 1951. The Prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and from 2016 has been awarded biennially. The prize was established in Sydney in 1949 as an incentive to raise the standard of religious art.
The Blake Art Prize attracts entries from artists around the world looking for exposure for their work, the opportunity to be hung in the exhibition and to compete for various prizes including the $35,000 main prize.
Three prizes are selected by the judges for the best contemporary art work that addresses the religious or spiritual.
1. The Blake Prize is a non-acquisitive prize of $35,000
2. The Blake Emerging Artist Prize is an acquisitive prize of $6,000
3. The Blake Established Artist Residency – consisting of a residency and solo exhibition hosted by CPAC.
All prizes are strictly non-sectarian. Entries are not restricted to works related to any faith or artistic style. All artworks entered must have a recognisable exploration of faith, spirituality, religion, hope, humanity, social justice, belief and/or non-belief.
My entry for the Blake Prize.
And the word became flesh ….
angelis dictum morn and night,
annunciation as a rite,
and the word became flesh,
verbum caro factum est.
sacrament, atonement brings,
genuflection gives you wings.
is religion life, or,
murder, mayhem, grief and strife?
This work for The Blake Prize is a metaphor for my adaptability to life’s challenges. I deconstruct these issues through my poetry and by using nature’s detritus which drops to the earth or is washed up by the sea to become renewed. Ironically in order to find its potential, these objects must be discarded by nature before being rescued, hence the parallels to life itself. I respond to voices in the dark, dreams and nightmares, existentialism and the human condition. My poetry uses a different creative process, a separate, impulsive, abstract part of the psyche. My artworks are solid, but my poetry is liquid.
I was not chosen as a finalist in the Blake Prize this year.
Jennifer Trezise ... Artist & Poet 