Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship winners announced

The Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship (FLMS) was established in 1997 through a gift from the estate of Renee Fauvette Erdos, an educator and founder of the History Teachers' Association of NSW, to support graduates of SCA, who are practising and professional artists working in any discipline, through self-directed travel bursaries.

“As borders reopen, we are thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity to artists who have been house-bound for much of the last two years so that they can forge vital new connections either abroad or interstate,” said Julie Rrap Co-Chair and Co-Director of the SCA.

In 2020, the scholarship was expanded to include two categories (emerging and mid-career/established), recognising the potential to progress an artist’s career at various stages of their practice.

The judges of this year’s Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship are Pedro de Almeida, Senior Curator, C3West at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; artist Yasmin Smith, 2020 Scholarship Recipient; and Julie Rrap, Co-Chair and Co-Director of Sydney College of the Arts.

“Over time, this important award has supported the work of some of the biggest names in Australian art as beneficiaries of this scholarship, so we are excited to be celebrating the 2021 recipients,” said Rrap, adding that the SCA Gallery will present an “impressive line-up” of 10 finalists in an exhibition opening today and running until 5 March.

Emily Hunt was awarded the 2021 Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship for The Public Art Rings and The Dancing Plague Shoes. The display of intracite ceramic rings were  made to be held and tried on, worn by the viewer and closely inspected. The series focuses on proverbs and the gap between materialism and idealism.

A hand-shaped table offered the audience an opportunity to handle the rings a direct interaction that provoke questions about trust, touch, fragility, care, and challenge the unspoken rule that ceramic installations should not be touched in a museum context.

Hunt was awarded on the basis of her distinctive sculptural work that invites audience participation and a strong research proposal. Hunt aims to gain new skills through mentorship and residency programs in Italy and France and, ultimately, a foray into public art.

“When an artist receives a scholarship it is not just the money that helps propel projects, it is also a sense of being heard that has a transformative effect,” said Hunt.

“I am at the stage in my career where I am autonomous and I chose to take a new fork in the road. The scholarship offers a means to financially support the new direction I would like to take my work, that into mosaic art construction and public art.”

Pamela Pirovic was awarded the Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship for a series of works that explores her cultural heritage and familial connections.

Across a suite of photographs and video, the artist turned the lens on herself and her paternal grandmother, affectionately known as ‘Baba’ (the Croatian term for ‘grandmother’). Pirovic staged scenarios that offered critiques on the representation of gender, aging, and both human and non-human relationships in contemporary culture. 

Pirovic was selected for the honest and direct way her work speaks to human connection as well as her well-considered proposal. Using this scholarship, Pirovic will participate in a series of seminars through the Alternative Art School, undertake a professional mentorship and form a new body of work.

Mid-Career/Established Category: Barbara Campbell, Emily Hunt, James Nguyen and Koji Ryui. Emerging Category: Ellen Dahl, Jana Hawkins-Andersen, Audrey Newton, Gillian Kayrooz, Pamela Pirovic, and Kai Wasikowski.

Emily Hunt creates ornamental, figurative ceramics. She has a deep interest in the earliest representations of female witches in German Renaissance print culture. This archetype of the crone surfaces frequently throughout her practice. Hunt turns our attention to the marginalised older woman as a figure for redemption. Her work seeks to acknowledge the invisible women in society. Her witches contain a hallucinogen visionary position. Her current projects synthesis three main ideas; the theory of panpsychism, walking as a magical tool and the transformative effect of public art.

Pamela Pirovic is an emerging artist from Western Sydney. She examines the role of the body in gender politics, often to a humorous effect using photography and video. By frequently turning the lens on herself, Pirovic questions the social and political constructs of ‘the everyday’ using her own body. She stages scenarios that offer critiques on the representation of gender, aging, and both human and non-human relationships in contemporary culture. 

Pirovic holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours) from Sydney College of the Arts (2016). She has exhibited in spaces across Sydney including Darren Knight Gallery, Verge Gallery, Gaffa Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre. In 2017 Pamela undertook a month-long residency at Can Serratin El Bruc, Spain. She has a forthcoming group exhibition at Airspace Projects (2022).

For more than 40 years, SCA has been a leading centre for education and research in the visual arts in the Asia-Pacific region, producing some of Australia’s most influential contemporary artists including Jane Campion, Ben Quilty, Rosemary Liang, Shaun Gladwell, Mikala Dwyer and Marc Newson. In 2020, SCA relocated to a state-of-the-art facility at Old Teachers’ College at the University of Sydney’s main campus, designed by renowned architects ARM.

EXHIBITION DATES: 10 February – 5 March 2022

WHERE: SCA Gallery at the University of Sydney, Camperdown

OPENING HOURS: Monday – Friday, 10am-5pm and Saturdays from 12-4pm.