Jasmine Kerdel was announced as the winner of the $5,000 Don Dunstan Foundation OUR MOB Emerging Artist Prize during the 2024 OUR MOB awards ceremony at Adelaide Festival Centre tonight.
Based in Adelaide, Jasmine Kerdel, is from the Wirangu, Kokatha, Mirning language groups. Her winning artwork Interconnection is inspired by the interconnectedness of the universe and how people, Country and sky are forever connected.
Don Dunstan Foundation OUR MOB Emerging Artist Prize 2024 winner Jasmine Kerdel: “Winning this prize means so much as it is the first time I’ve shown my work in a public space. It gives me a lot of self confidence that I can tell my families stories. Connection to Country is something very important to me and I can’t wait to explore that more through my art.
The Trevor Nickolls Art Prize for OUR MOB 2024 recipient is Arabunna Elder Reginald Dodd OAM and three OUR YOUNG MOB winners are Adnyamathanha Artist Rosie Cruse, Narungga Artist Brianna Warrior and Mirning Artist Maya Baker. The Trevor Nickolls Art Prize is in its third year after being established in 2021 through the Adelaide Festival Centre Foundation, honouring the generosity and legacy of artist Trevor Nickolls.
Other awards include: the Country Arts SA Professional Development Initiative Award won by Gudjula and Girramay Artist Kat Bell; and the Ku Arts Award honouring the founding Chair, Inawinjti Williamson, won by Ngarrindjeri Artist Belinda Wilson.
The 2024 OUR MOB and OUR YOUNG MOB exhibitions are on display to the public at Adelaide Festival Centre’s Festival Theatre Galleries until October 12. Artworks can be viewed and purchased at Adelaide Festival Centre’s online shop from Monday August 5.
Adelaide Festival Centre CEO & Artist Director Douglas Gautier AM: “We congratulate this year's award recipients and look forward to celebrating their achievements in the years ahead. I encourage everyone to visit the exhibitions and experience the remarkable artworks by South Australian First Nations artists.”
OUR MOB 2024 features four main components:
- OUR MOB: Art by South Australian Aboriginal Artists,
- OUR YOUNG MOB: Art by Aboriginal Artists 18 years and under,
- Don Dunstan Foundation Prize solo exhibition, created by 2023’s Emerging Artist Award recipient, Lesley Coulthard and Ngapala Arts,
- Trevor Nickolls OUR MOB Award supported by Adelaide Festival Centre Foundation solo exhibition by 2023 award recipient, Samantha Gollan.
Since its inception in 2006, Adelaide Festival Centre’s OUR MOB has showcased the quality and diversity of art by South Australian First Nations artists, boosting the careers of many artists, and generating direct-to-artist sales to support their art practices.
The festivities continue with Adelaide Festival Centre’s Celebrating First Nations program including art workshop, Painting and Culture with Iteka, and visual literacy event OUR YOUNG WORDS: with Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, as well as poetry exhibition defi-Nations and literary program OUR WORDS.
Adelaide Festival Centre gratefully acknowledges ongoing partnerships with Ku Arts; SICAD; Country Arts SA; The Don Dunstan Foundation; TARNANTHI: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art; and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture centre managers and coordinators across South Australia.
Prize winning artworks can be viewed here.