Walters Prize nominee Pati Solomona Tyrell exhibits at Auckland Art Gallery

After announcing the four nominees for 2018’s Walters Prize in March, Auckland Art Gallery will be displaying their work from Saturday, 18 August. The four nominees are Ruth Buchanan, Jacqueline Fraser, Jess Johnson and Simon Ward, and Pati Solomona Tyrell, who featured in issue 85 of D-Photo.

The jury made their selection from more than 30 projects from over the last two years and across multiple fronts, and focused on the contribution these projects have made to the contemporary art field. They chose to nominate Pati Solomona Tyrell’s ‘Fāgogo’ stating that the work is “at once intense and gently dreamlike, the work creates passages between the disparate notions of sea and land, ancient imagery and new media.” They also cited Tyrell’s contribution to the ‘FAFSWAG’ collective in his role as founding member and principal photographer, which involves research and hosting performances and events.

The Walters Prize is a biannual award named in honour of modernist painter Gordon Walters, which aims to increase awareness of and discourse surrounding contemporary art, engaging audiences in the art of our time. The winner of The Walters Prize will be selected by an international judge in November this year, and will be the recipient of a $50,000 prize.

The exhibition of Walters Prize nominees will be on at Auckland Art Gallery between 18 August and 20 January 2018. Visit the Auckland Art Gallery website for more information about the exhibition, or take a look at our feature in issue 85 to find out more about Tyrell’s work.