Today I'm submitting an application for the Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship. This is a $60,000 scholarship which allows the winner to enrol in a course in an overseas institution, or be an assistant for an established artist, or something similar. I've applied about 4 times in the past, and have never even been accepted into the finalists' exhibition. I think about 11 of the last 15 winners have included some form of video work, so chances are slim that I'll win. Just getting into the exhibition would be sufficient! At least it's free to enter, so I don't lose anything by applying. One is allowed to enter three different artworks. Mine are below:
This work is 'Everything Ends.' This installation was from a solo show i had last year at Kudos Gallery here in Sydney. The show was called Hate and Envy and Crime and Darkness and Pain, and all the works explored material processes of decay or destruction (works had been burnt, or stained, or rusted). The series of which this installation is a part, all called 'Everything Ends,' is made from burnt chopsticks. I want to suggest architecture with these works, either the building process (with the scaffolding going up around a building), or the destruction process (with the skeleton of the building being revealed, or with the Twin Towers, for example, the bits of the facade that remained after the buildings collapsed).
This photo is also from Hate and Envy and Crime and Darkness and Pain (with more works from 'Everything Ends' in the background). This work has been reworked a few times over the years. It has been known as 'The Dan Flavin I'd Like to See' amongst other things, but now it's called 'Deserted.' I'm trying to tie in the imagery and colours of the desert, with the idea of being abandoned. It is made form burnt fluorescent light tubes, arranged in a grid pattern.
These photos are parts of an installation titled 'Lost.' I made it a month ago for another show at Kudos, this one a group show called 'Kudos to Kudos' which was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the gallery. The piece is composed of small bundles of clothing that I found on the streets of inner-city Sydney. For 2 weeks I scoured the streets for discarded/lost clothing, washed them, and tied them up into small bundles. One of the images I had in my head was the folded American flags that one sees at funerals for servicemen and women. They're tied up with string, and each has a label tied to it. On one side it says 'LOST' and the other has the place where the article was found. Clothing is often used in art as a metaphor for people, either as individuals or members of groups. 
The individual pieces are shown in a stack or in a small pile or in a large pile. I want to suggest that variety that we see in people, but also draw attention to the similarities.
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