Artist's roll through queer history inspiration for win

West Australian

a day ago

Jack Ball has won the nation's richest prize for young artists for an immersive photographic and sculptural installation, inspired by a scrapbook collection in the Australian Queer Archives.
Ball, 39, was announced as the winner of the Ramsay Art Prize at a ceremony at the Art Gallery of South Australia on Friday.
The trans man was among 22 finalists selected from a record field of more than 500 entries for the $100,000 biennial prize, awarded to a contemporary Australian artist aged under 40.
Ball, who worked on Heavy Grit intensively for more than a year, said they had a "huge emotional response" to scrapbooks held by the Australian Queer Archives.
"I had so many dilemmas, so many curiosities, so many things to grapple with," they said.
"In the 1950s-60s, seeing different references to trans experiences was incredibly meaningful and complex and I had a lot of big feelings to process through the experience of engaging with that content."
The work includes fragments and glimpses of queer histories, layering archival materials with personal images and soft form sculptures, and creating an interplay between the past and the present.
Ball would make a "really thorough plan" for the prize money, because "I know just how precious every opportunity is … for example, getting to travel, whether it's in Australia or overseas, meeting new people, new relationships, new communities".
In a prize with no material boundaries, the winning work comprises diverse mediums including inkjet prints, textured stained glass, beeswax, charcoal, copper pipe, fabric, paint, sand and rope.
The judges were unanimous in their decision and described the winning work as "sensual, experimental and sophisticated".
Co-judge and 2025 Archibald Prize winner Julie Fragar said the work evoked "a really good feeling of restlessness".
She said the prize was unique in its flexibility to reflect contemporary art trends, unlike other prizes with rigid criteria, and its role as a barometer for the art scene was increasingly important as resources dwindled.
"Art prizes are a great way, not just to give artists money to survive and boost their careers, but also to raise their profile and to grow in a long term way," she said.
"The Ramsay prize will be a huge boost to Jack Ball's career and set Jack up for the future."
Sydney-born Ball grew up in Perth and moved to Sydney two years ago. The winning work featured in a major solo exhibition at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts in 2024.
Ball's work becomes part of the Art Gallery South Australia's collection, joining works by past winners Sarah Contos (2017), Vincent Namatjira (2019), Kate Bohunnis (2021) and Ida Sophia (2023).
The prize was established in the name of SA cultural philanthropists James and Diana Ramsay.
Works by the winner and other finalists are being exhibited at the gallery from May 31-August 31.