Shepparton artist wins $15,000 sculpture award

The win came as a surprise to the emerging artist, who has spent more than five years creating work inspired by Australia’s extinct animals.

“I didn't really expect to win at all,” Ms Parker said.

“It validates what I’m trying to do, which is show my artworks to a broad audience so that they can learn about extinction within Australia.”

The northern pig-footed bandicoot was declared extinct after habitat destruction and predation by foxes and cats, with its last recorded sighting in the 1950s.

For Ms Parker, bringing the animal back into the public eye is part of a broader effort to make Australia’s extinction history more visible.

“I started when I was at university ... I was a bit horrified to think that I didn’t know the names of most of our extinct animals,” she said.

Australia has officially lost more than 100 species to extinction.

“I hope viewers have a better understanding of the vulnerability of animals in Australia and feel a bit more connection to some of the animals.”

The winning sculpture was created using Ms Parker’s own technique of layering linocut prints on to pages from second-hand books to create a three-dimensional effect.

The piece was initially made for the Shepparton Art Museum.

“The sculpture that won actually was in my solo exhibition at SAM last year,” she said.

The artwork has now been acquired by Deakin University and will become part of its collection.

Ms Parker said the $15,000 prize would go back into her art.

“It's really a bit of financial security. As an artist, you don’t really know when you’re going to next get paid,” she said.

She said she planned to continue developing her extinct-animal series and was looking into staging an exhibition in Melbourne.

The winning sculpture and the other finalist works are on display at the Deakin University Art Gallery in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood until October 9.