Lillian O’Neil wins the Bowness Prize

Written by: MGA

Photos by: John O’Neil

Congratulations to Lillian O’Neil, announced as the winner of the 2021 Bowness Prize at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne. The $30,000 acquisitive prize was awarded by judges Del Kathryn Barton (artist), Anouska Phizacklea (Director Monash Gallery of Art) and Karen Quinlan AM (Director National Portrait Gallery, Canberra). O’Neil’s analogue collage, Drawing to a close, was selected from over 730 entries and 52 shortlisted works.
  “The winning work, by O’Neil, is a large-format collage of found photographic images, enlarged, cropped and reconceptualised to create an enigmatic composition entitled Drawing to a close (2020). The work is tactile in its materiality, with collaged elements stitched together so as to prompt multiple interpretations and draw connections between subject matter and sensation. O’Neil’s practice is founded in archival processes by amassing material that she scans, cuts and wields adeptly into compositions that bind history to the present moment.” MGA
  Over the last 16 years, the Bowness Photography Prize has emerged as an important annual survey of contemporary photographic practice in Australia and one of the most prestigious prizes in Australia. The prize was established by the MGA Foundation in 2005 with the aim of supporting MGA and its significant collection, as well as its unique commitment to photographic art.


The Bowness Photography Prize exhibition is on display at Monash Gallery of Art until 05/12/21.
Monash Gallery of Art
860 Ferntree Gully Road
Wheelers Hill, Victoria
www.mga.org.au