Creative excellence shines for Albany Creek State High student

Published 8:00am 6 December 2022

A stunning self-portrait that combines layered film projection has won Albany Creek State High School student Tahlia Holden a 2022 Creative Generation Excellence Award in Visual Art.

The awards recognise the talent and dedication of art students across the state.

Education Minister Grace Grace congratulated the winners on their outstanding achievement.

“This wonderful competition has shone a spotlight on the high standard of visual art education in Queensland secondary schools since 1990, and the standard of entries this year has been fantastic.

“Congratulations to all students who entered, I hope you are encouraged to continue creating and exploring visual art in life after school.”

Tahlia’s piece, Invasion, explores fragility in internal and external environments using a contemporary perspective.

“My drawing and digital manipulations immerse the viewer in my selected subject matter - bees, moths and ants,” she says.

“I have created paradoxical notions of swarming, invasion and flourishment by creatures that are small and fragile.

“This self-portrait represents how my mind operates in a constant state of anxiety and chaos with a formalist approach to realistic colour and representation.”

Film vignettes

Tahlia says she mostly works with coloured pencils and takes a strong technical focus to her subject matter.

“I mostly focus on representing over-population or extinction of animals.”

Tahlia used her identical twin sister for reference to start a graphite drawing that transformed into a large scale self-portrait with meticulous studies of real ants, moths and bees.

“My initial drawing explores the uncomfortable depiction of insects to heighten the viewers’ senses,” she says.

“I then created 17 film vignettes of ants, moths and bees, experimenting with the way they appear and disappear to creep and crawl through my hair and across my face.

“I projected the films onto the graphite drawing and created a soundscape from the noises I heard at night.

“I wanted the imagery to invade your senses.”

The winners of the 2022 Creative Generation Excellence Awards in Visual Art will have their work exhibited at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) at South Bank from April 22.