The politics of a conflict on the other side of the world have permeated the 2025 Fisher’s Ghost art award.
On Friday night, it was announced that the winner of the $50,000 prizemoney on offer was an artist called Nicole Barakat, who describes herself on her website as “a Lebanese artist living on the lands and waters of the Gadigal’’.
Her entry, pictured above, was entitled “A language for the emptiness of words’’.
The winning artwork, which consists of deconstructed, found clothing, explores “the catastrophe of the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people, massacres, ecocide, starvation, mass devastation and destruction, invasion and on-going occupation from Gaza to Jenin and Lebanon”.
The three judges of the award, Eddie Abd, Blair French and Sidney McMahon, issued a public statement, which said:
“The judges were unanimous in their decision to award Nicole Barakat the 2025 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award.
“Her work, A language for the emptiness of words, marks a notable milestone in Barakat’s artistic practice and career trajectory.
“Courageous and deeply resonant, Barakat reflects a profound attunement to cultural, social and political undercurrents shaping the present moment.
“Through Barakat’s intentional hollowing and deconstructing of found garments, the work’s materiality invites audiences to consider notions of silence, absence and re-membering.
“It responds to global events with striking immediacy yet evokes a simultaneous sense of stillness.
“Furthermore, this year’s winners are either local or deeply connected to Western Sydney. These ties extend beyond geography – they speak to the resilience of our community and its openness to engage with complex issues,’’ the judges said in their statement.
The open award winner is acquisitive to Campbelltown Council, which means it gets to keep the artwork.
The 2025 Fisher’s Ghost art award winners were:
Open award: Nicole Barakat, A language for the emptiness of words
Contemporary: Freya Jobbins, Self Portrait With Fish Hooks
Traditional: Anamika, Raas (dance of love), pictured below
Macarthur award: David Hawkes, 2560
Aboriginal art award: Miranda Hampson, Where the Tide Left Me Behind
Macability award: Xeni Kusumitra, Gabriel at 12pm Angelus
Joan Long and Vija Heinrichs People’s Choice Award: Talya Brookman, Tether
Primary students: Harris Abdurahiman, Limitless Sky, Fatima Jaber, Stuck in the Tree; and Indianna Prior, Moon Fox
Secondary students:Liliana Belobrajdic, Flower Celebration, Hayden Best, Kinetic Connection; Isaac Filipo, Self Portrait; and Madeline Sammut, Pie and Sauce
The exhibition is open to the public until November 16.
