About Ramsay art prize

The Ramsay Art Prize is touted as one of the most generous for Australian artists under the age of 40.
It was established in the name of South Australia's leading cultural philanthropists James and Diana Ramsay, and is an acquisitive art prize for contemporary Australian artists.
The biennial award, which is open to Australian-based artists under 40 working in any medium and run by Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), attracted 350 entries for its third outing, culminating in a crop of 24 finalists from around the country.

This year twenty-four finalists were selected by a judging panel of contemporary art specialists comprised of Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens, Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Director of Programs at Carriageworks and Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design at AGSA.

Born in Tehran, Hoda Afshar is an artist based in Narrm (Melbourne) who works with photography and the moving image to explore the nature and possibilities of documentary image-making. Through her work, Afshar considers the representation of gender, race and lived experiences of marginal and displaced people.

Agonistes is an installation comprised of a single-channel video and a series of nine portraits. Exploring the experiences of whistleblowers (people who have spoken out), the work combines new and old photographic techniques. Afshar creates images of whistleblowers who have spotlighted misconduct perpetrated in Australian institutions today. Whether whistleblowing on matters to do with the military, intelligence services, immigration detention, youth detention, or aged and disability care, Afshar’s subjects have spoken out for those whose voices were never meant to be heard.

Hoda Ashfar is represented by Milani Gallery, Brisbane.