A Campbelltown artist has won a prestigious international award.
Teigan Blackshaw was awarded the International Prize Leonardo Da Vinci – The Universal Artist for her debut series, Invisible Pain.
The biannual Da Vinci award is given in Florence, Italy by art critic Dott. Salvatore Russo.
Blackshaw’s Invisible Pain works were exhibited for one week at ArtExpo in Milan, Italy in September 2016, which then qualified them for the Da Vinci award.
“This award is not just for me,’’ Ms Blackshaw says.
“It’s for every person who can connect with my images, every person who feels like they can’t explain how they feel.’’
She does appreciate the practical benefits of the Da Vinci honour – acceptance as an artist in her own country.
“The way it seems to work is that you need to get an international profile as an artist before you have a chance to become successful in Australia,’’ she says.
A Macquarie Fields resident, Blackshaw is a self described “disabled artist specialising in medical expressionism’’.
Invisible Pain was an exploration of her own medical condition, fibromyalgia.
And while she was very pleased to win the Da Vinci award, Ms Blackshaw is moving on and indeed has just completed a new series of works focusing on another rare medical condition, EDS, or Elhers Danlos Syndrome.
[EDS is a rare hereditary disorder of connective tissue that results in unusually flexible joints, very elastic skin, and fragile tissues. This syndrome is caused by a defect in one of the genes that controls the production of connective tissue.]
“EDS is even more rare than my condition of fibromyalgia,’’ she says.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Sufferers of EDS have kind of adopted a saying for their condition: When you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras.[/social_quote]
“Because in a town you are more likely to see horses than a zebra.
“But there’s a medical minority, people who don’t understand things the same way as other people.’’
Her EDS series is made up of 10 powerful works and are available for sale online through artpal.com
♦ If you’d like to find out more about this emerging local artist visit her website, http://teiganblackshaw.com.au/
