The Mission to Seafarers’ Maritime Art Prize & Exhibition is an international competition that is hosted at the heritage-listed Mission building in Melbourne’s Docklands and this year is celebrating 20 years of promoting excellence in maritime and seafaring subjects in art.
Held online for the past two years (due to the coronavirus pandemic), the welcome return to an in-person exhibition and opening night celebration is highly anticipated.
Artists are invited to respond to the theme ‘The Relationship of Humanity to the Sea’ for their share of $25,000 in prize money across five categories:
- $15,000 2022 Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Maritime Art Award
- $5,000 Best in Traditional Maritime Art Award
- $1,000 Emerging Artist Award
- $2,000 People’s Choice Award
- $2,000 Runner-Up Award
Last year, 80 artworks were shortlisted from a highly competitive field, including a greater number of interstate artists than previous years. The judges’ remarked that “Humanity encompasses the entire human race, displaying unique human characteristics such as compassion, sympathy, kindness, and mercy. ‘The Relationship of Humanity to the Sea’ is a wonderful theme for an exhibition and as always artists embraced the theme and gave their individual interpretations, providing a diverse and thought-provoking group of entries.” This year’s judges will be announced in due course.
KEY DATES:
Entries Open: Sunday 1st May to Wednesday 31st August
Exhibition Opening Night and Awards Ceremony: Thursday 29th September
Exhibition Open: Friday 30th September to Sunday 16th October 12pm-8pm
2021 MSC Maritime Art Award – Laurel Foenander ‘Lest we Forget’
2019 ASP Shipping Best in Traditional Maritime Art Award – Jenny Viney ‘Men at Work’
2017 DP World Emerging Artist Award – Jamie Preisz ‘Self Portrait as the Blind Captain’