The 69th Blake Prize 2026: Finalist

Ali Tahayori

2 May - 14 Jun 2026

The Blake Prize is a biennial exhibition that highlights local and international contemporary artists who explore ideas of spirituality and religion through contemporary artworks. The 69th Blake Prize will be exhibited at Liverpool Powerhouse from Saturday 2 May – Sunday 14 June 2026. The exhibition will launch on Friday 1 May 2026, 5-8pm.

The Blake Art Prize has been challenging artists to explore spirituality and religion through their art since 1951, and Liverpool Powerhouse (formerly Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre) has been home to the prize since 2016. Liverpool Powerhouse is ideally positioned in Liverpool, a community of people from over 150 different birthplaces, speaking over 140 languages with an equally diverse range of faith backgrounds.

The 69th Blake Art Prize finalists have been selected by a panel of judges renowned for their contribution to the discourse of contemporary art and spirituality in Australia.

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“A constellation of mirrored fragments forms an Arabic phrase that reads, ‘Queers were here before they arrived’ – the text shimmers between legibility and abstraction, between what is seen and what is reflected. ⁠
The mirror becomes both a surface of encounter and a site of refusal – a place where language, light, and gaze intertwine.” – Ali Tahayori, 2025⁠