Ravenswood Womens Prize 2018: Finalist

Abbey McCulloch

15 - 21 Jun 2018

Abbey McCulloch is a finalist in the Ravenswood. Australian Women’s Art Prize for her sculptural work The Echo. This $35,000 annual prize — the richest professional art prize for women in Australia, was launched in 2017 to advance art and opportunity for emerging and established female artists in Australia.

The Echo ‘is about taming our inner dialogue when it gets out of hand. My work is often about acts of self-regulation, how we are constantly evolving and modifying, existing somewhere between our true self and our aspirational one. By turning the subjects that I usually draw or paint into clay sculptures I am connecting with this idea of being in constant transition, of remodelling who we are.  Often the only thing that we should consider changing is the way that we talk to ourselves and I have discovered that as I get older, resilience comes from noticing when negative inner banter turns up. It is impossible to completely silence this chatter but I’m learning how to recognise it and tie it to a pole until it calms down. We get stronger when we discover how to ignore the voice that we don’t need.’ (Abbey McCulloch, 2018)