Thea Anamara Perkins: 2020 Dreaming Award For An Emerging Artist

Thea Anamara Perkins: Dreaming Award for an emerging artist

Thea Anamara Perkins is an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman.

Raised and based in Sydney, she has family ties to the Redfern community and engages with the area through her painting and installation practice. In 2018 she was a lead artist participating in the restoration of the iconic 40,000 Years mural in Redfern.

She has held solo exhibitions at FirstDraft gallery and Our Neon Foe, as well as exhibiting at TARNANTHI.

Thea was a finalist in the Archibald Prize for her portrait of contemporary Aboriginal artist Christian Thompson. She was also a finalist for the Brett Whitely travelling scholarship.

Thea’s collaborative work is remarkable. She has contributed to projects such as ‘Welcome to Redfern’, Reko Rennie’s public artwork on The Block in Redfern in 2013 as well as Tony Albert’s public artwork YININMADYEMI Thou Didst Let Fall in 2016.

This award will see Thea work with community to create a series of artworks informed by the iconic protest posters of the 1970s and the 1980s.

They will be made through workshops at Town Camps in Alice Springs, and will include her own pieces.

The project will be supported by Tangentyere Arts and will have mentorship from Tony Albert.

She will use the body of work as a call for collective action on Climate Change. Her passion for this issue is reflected in her practice, and in her volunteer work with Seed, Australia’s first Indigenous youth climate network.