.M Contemporary presents the second instalment of the Young Artists Initiative group exhibition featuring selected artwork by students from Sydney College of the Arts, UNSW Art & Design and The National Art School. This year the exhibition was judged by Shannon Whitney from BresicWhitney and prominent art consultant Mark Hughes who awarded THE BRESIC WHITNEY EMERGING ARTIST award valued at $1500 to UNSW student Jodi Clarke for her drawing installation You must be this tall to ride. Clark’s work is based within the narrative of feminism, aiming to challenge stereotypes, subvert assumptions, point out hypocrisies, and reclaim the overt consumption of women’s bodies and sexualities. Clark deconstructs and reconstructs existing images, experimenting with how their meanings become re-authored in new contexts. Through the exploration of line, the composite images evolve, becoming distorted and decontextualized, rendering new forms that resist categorization or traditional standards. Highly commended prizes valued at $1000 were awarded to NAS student Candice Towne for her oil painting Use By 2030 and recent SCA graduate Sophie Penkethman-Young. Additonally, Penkethman-Young received the People’s Choice Award of $500, kindly donated by Kaye King Concepts for her animated video work A Sea of Stories. Over 200 people, including the distinguished British artist and Turner Prize nominee, Tracey Emin, attended the opening event on Sunday afternoon. Emin’s work has been of particular influence to YAI ’14 winner Jodi Clark who had the chance to chat with about her practice.
