• Andrew Nicholls’ photo Jacob and the Angel.

HIGHGATE’S Andrew Nicholls has won the Perth Centre for Photography’s 2018 IRIS Award.

He snagged $3000 in prize money for Jacob and the Angel – “a self-portrait, depicting myself wrestling with my muse, close friend and fellow artist David Charles Collins at The Pinnacles desert, one of regional WA’s most haunting landscapes. We wear high-visibility workwear, the ubiquitous dress of mining industry workers.

“Though generally depicted in bright sunshine, the surreal Pinnacles landscape is captured here during a breaking storm, with brooding cloud formations and raindrops visible on our clothing.

“The work aims to critique an industry and culture I perceive as highly aggressive, while ‘camping’ upon traditional understandings of the muse; though Collins is in a more dominant position, he has my first name embroidered on his shirt, confusing our identities, and questioning who is in the more dominant role.”

After a series of residencies in Italy, Nicholls is currently working towards a solo exhibition Hyperkulturemiathe.

It’s due to open at the WA Art Gallery on December 15.

The 32 IRIS finalists remain on show at the King Street Arts Centre, 357 Murray Street Perth, until November 3.

Opening hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 11am to 3pm.

by DAVID BELL

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