SUPER STUNNED! i won the estuary arts award.

I never thought of winning that night. I was really freaking out when a film crew that wanted to film me in the evening said they wanted to come. I was planning all along to say a losing speech to the camera, so i really didn't dress up or even think of anything special to say. So i did shake a bit but i am glade i thanked the people i needed to thank and really moved forward in my art career. Mum and dad was also there that night so they saw my fruits of labor first hand. So they were very proud.

Well here are some images during the award. and the link on facebook https://www.facebook.com/UxbridgeCreativeCentre

Thanks to the courtesy of Julie Zhu photography i have 2 awesome looking picutres. That night all i had was dad and his mobile so we didn't get anything sharp.

heres another picture Julie took, sorta helps you get a good look at it in scale with a person next to it.

Here is a more detailed look at the winning piece. you can see how i washed the ink in some areas and gave some areas a thick dark look. Adding curiosity to whats behind those bars of ink. The reflections can also be seen if you look into the washes. I tried to make some parts of the storm drain fade into the water a bit too.

Me and our Mayor Len brown and dad. It was really awesome having a chat with him outside the building before entering. Really nice guy.

Here is our the audience and the artist on the day. The place was packed full.

Here is what i submitted during the completion. Presentation is pretty visual too.Here is what i wrote:Painting title: Filtered-scape

Along the estuary, many storm drains are barred like a prison to help protect the environment in the water from rubbish and waste. However, from an Asian perspective what are we trying to protect the environment from? The rubbish? or from ourselves on the other side of the painting, that produce the waste in the first place.

It is not until the late industrial ages in Asia that the concept rubbish was introduced, before all waste was biodegradable and did not harm the environment. Now plastics and other harmful products are chucked into the sea and the tides carry the waste into the storm drains. This is like a barrier that allows only one side to suffer. The birds and the mangroves are caught with rubbish.

We now see the reversal of this as the window symbolizes a bar code for consumerism. People buy products that contain waste. If we had all the rubbish on our side of the window, would we choose to be more environmental friendly? Would the landscape no longer need a filter?

The curator of Auckland art gallery Louise Pether gave me a very lovely speech and comments about my work. She was very gracious to help me out and to direct me in what to do next to further my career.

finally here is a link to a article of me and the awards 

http://www.times.co.nz/front-page-feature/stunned-by-victory.html