STUDENTS tackled a range of issues from animal rights to refugees in this year’s Year 12 Perspectives exhibition.
The annual competition features artwork by 57 teenage artists across Perth, completed during their final year of school.
Former Prendiville Catholic College student Jessica McGaw was one of 10 northern suburbs inclusions in the exhibition, which opens at The Art Gallery of WA on January 28.
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The 18-year-old from Ocean Reef created her confronting piece #CapitalisedCruelty to “open people’s eyes” to animal abuse and exploitation.
“It’s targeted at showing everybody that we are the ones responsible for how we treat things,” she said.
“My intent was to raise awareness of the fact that animals, regardless of their economic value, are still sentient beings.
“By humanising their appearance, I wanted to draw comparisons between animals and humans concerning the ability to perceive and feel things.”
Jessica spent seven months making the artwork and accompanying video, combining her passions of special effects makeup artistry and animal rights.
Peter Moyes Anglican Community School’s Emily Bairstow, of Mindarie, made Hidden in Plain Sight.
“Beautiful things are often hidden in plain sight, their beauty often disguised by being labelled as ‘ugly’ and ‘disgusting’.
“I developed this series of works by focusing on camouflaging the insects within the prints.
“By creating a ‘dirty’ environment in the background by collagraphing with found materials and printing ink, then embossing the insect shapes as negative spaces within the print, I have allowed the insects to become hidden within the artwork.”
Banksia Grove resident Lea Baluyot painted Time is Gold while at Balga Senior High School.
“I was inspired by the symbolic meaning of objects used in vanitas paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries in Flanders and the Netherlands.
“In my painting the skull represents life and death, the clock reminds us that life is fleeting and to make the most of every day.
“The camera and screen symbolise social media, the microphone signifies entertainment, and the tape is measuring my life and achievement.”
Wanneroo resident India Bowers Kojyo made Untitled at St Stephen’s School Carramar.
“The work I have created represents my ethnicity and the fusion of both my Japanese and Australian heritage.
“I have chosen to use delicate pen work on an artificial skin to mimic the appearance of tattoo art, demonstrating my passion and interest for the profession.
“The background on which the ‘skin’ sits is my depiction of an aerial landscape shown through a neutral palette when land meets the ocean, created with deep shades of blue.”
Cartref (home) was created by Kinross resident Megan Hughes while at Mindarie Senior College
“Using stitching on a photograph traps the moment in something more important than a disposable digital image.
“The use of cross-stitching intensifies and blurs sections of the image and heightens the conceptual meaning of the objects hidden under the embroidery.
“The landscape is mostly left untouched, representing how people may be a blur but your home always remains a clear memory.”
Duncraig resident Eden Leicester made Ego – virtual at St Mary’s Anglican Girl School
“The line between my physical and virtual reality sometimes becomes blurred.
“The characters, Eden and DAI, are inspired by Japanese animation and represent physical and virtual themes respectively.
“The works are created with animation software and let me step back and look at how my ‘real’ life is lost within my virtual one.”
Former Lake Joondalup Baptist College student Bayley Page, of Kinross, made Ignorant Admiration.
“Ignorant Admiration explores the ironic nature of human action in that we as humans admire our world whilst simultaneously destroying it.
“The man positioned on top of the earth is representative of the effects we as humans have on the world in which we live.
“The figure, whose weight is distorting the earth somewhat, admires the view but is oblivious to what he is doing to the planet.”
Amy Reid, of Duncraig, made Girl in a Manhole while at St Stephen’s School Duncraig.
“Romanian orphans are sometimes homeless and by such necessity might live in the sewers.
“In my work, this particular girl looks out through her ‘front door’.
“By using a self-portrait, I am protecting her dignity and attempting to put myself in her position.”
Darch resident Kara Rousseau created Fractured while at John Curtin College of the Arts.
“Knowledge of past civilisations often comes from artefacts such as pots that reveal stories and signs.
“This urn, influenced by Grayson Perry, records the journey taken by countless refugees in the hope of reaching sanctuary.
“The crimson cracks represent their fractured hopes and futures.”
Human impact was created by Joondalup’s Harry Tatchley while at Prendiville Catholic College.
“My triptych focuses on the loss of animal species due to human activity.
“Specifically, those under threat due to habitat destruction, pollution and climate change.
“Each frame was designed to highlight a separate issue and to enforce the idea that many species are trapped and are unable to escape.”