My name is Thea Anamara Perkins
and I'm an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman,
so I have a lot of family in Alice Springs,
but I grew up here in Sydney on Gadigal land
and I'm a visual artist.
I've always made art.
I think ever since I was young, painted or drawn,
but when I started making it in earnest,
I just went with what I was compelled to do,
and I didn't really have kind of a path
of where I'd take it,
but I just felt the compulsion to make it.
When I start to make a painting,
I kind of will take an image and use that
as a departure point.
Maybe it's an image that draws me in
or something like that,
or has kind of interesting possibilities
with like composition or colour,
or maybe it's powerful to me
because of memory or a concept
that kind of allows me to use
the expressive aspects of painting.
I've always really loved painting
and I've always,
you know, had heaps of art books around me growing up.
But also, I think, having that
connection with the central desert too.
And, you know, how that's so bold and vibrant,
but then also growing up here in Sydney
and seeing what's happening with the contemporary arts scene
here, you know.
With abstract painting and
you know, studying art theory,
I've always recognised its expressive potential,
I think, and it's something that's always kind of
fascinated me and come naturally to me, I think.
I think as an artist you're not kind of working in this vacuum,
you are responding to what's happening
in the world and, you know, you can be a conduit in many ways.
And especially in these times of,
you know, great turbulence
it's as important as ever,
and it's something that I've always been taught
to kind of stand up and speak out.
And art can be a really powerful tool
because it helps us understand each other.
I entered the Brett Whiteley
Travelling Art Scholarship in 2019
and it was actually something that a mentor
kind of suggested and recommended to me
as a good step and I thought it would be a good idea,
especially as an emerging practitioner to enter these spaces.
I chose to submit 'Station'
because it was a deeply personal work,
but also I thought it was a good
example of my style at the time,
or the style that I was trying to kind of arrive at.
'Station' is a painting of a site that's very important to me.
It's where my grandfather was born
and his final resting place.
It's the location of the [Alice Springs] Telegraph Station.
Prizes are really important.
Yeah, not only do they give encouragement,
but they put you in touch with people
they put you in touch with your peers
and, you know, make these conversations
that wouldn't otherwise happen.
Coming from, you know, different perspectives
and backgrounds and views.
It can be quite a solitary experience,
especially, you know, as a painter,
working away in isolation in the studio,
so it's great to have that community.
A direct follow-on from my entry
into the prize was applying for
the Archibald in the same year and becoming a finalist,
which was totally fantastic.
In the following year,
I entered the Alice Prize and was lucky enough
to win and I also applied for a major grant
for emerging artists from the Australia Council.
So yeah, I guess it really kind of gave me
the confidence to pursue those
goals that I would otherwise
find like incredibly intimidating.
I think what excites me about being
a young Australian artist
is that there's movement happening in the world
that's like it's just being poised for change,
that there's a lot of work to be done,
and that you can have a tangible impact and agency.
Because it is,
because the world is kind of in an uproar
there's room to now move in
and make the work and make the change.
My advice for young artists
is to work hard, to work really hard,
because it is very hard being an artist,
but to keep going.
And to stick to their vision and to pursue their vision,
because there's a lot of kind of...
trends and art's this forum of ideas,
so everyone takes a different stance and a view
to pursue your own original ideas.