Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art: Finalist
And He Said: This is Power?, Do you need to eat wasabi to get emotional?, 2022/2024
80x 35mm slides, Kodak Ektapro slide projector
Production support: Ahmed Lesi and Mahmoud Bakar
Photography: Christian Capurro
Ezz Monem
4 Apr - 25 May 2025
Nillumbik Shire Council presents the 2025 Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art, a biennial acquisitive art prize open to emerging and established contemporary artists working in any medium across Australia.
Ezz says of his work; “A photography session in a Cairo bodybuilding gym captures Egyptian men performing traditional bodybuilding poses, then captures their expressions as they taste wasabi for the first time. As their peers watched, a dynamic of peer pressure emerged. Many men tried to hide their reactions during the shoot, revealing their true discomfort only after the camera’s gaze had shifted away. The work explores the tension between the display of power and the urge to hide vulnerability.
The work is part of the project And He Said: This is Power?, which explores the complex dynamics of authority, control and emotional expression. The project brings together video installations and photographic works in which the artist investigates manifestations of power in both personal and societal contexts, framed by the interplay between individual identity and nationhood.” – Ezz Monem
Selected from 468 entries, the 34 finalists are artists Georgia Banks, Pia Coetsee, Emma Coulter, Lana de Jager, Lada Dedić, Chelle Destefano, Makeda Duong, Megan Evans, Mark Forbes, Phillip George, Tim Gregory, Petrina Hicks, Nicholas Hubicki, Virginia Keft, Janetta Kerr-Grant, Jenna Lee, Warren Lee, Arrayah Loynd, Donna Marcus, Sean Miles, Ezz Monem, Marisa Mu, Jamie Mumford, Serena Pinday, Kenny Pittock, Susan Reddrop, Britt Salt, Amy Schleif, Jacqui Shelton, Sia Smyth, Katie Stackhouse, Meagan Streader, Isabel Trufas, Jen Valender.
Shortlisting judges: Matt Cox, Curator of Asian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales; Gail Harradine, Wotjobaluk, Jadawadjali, Djubagalk, Curatorial Manager, Koorie Heritage Trust and Patrice Sharkey, Head of Exhibitions and Programs, Tarrawarra Museum of Art.
The Finalist exhibition will be presented at Montsalvat across three Gallery spaces from Friday 4 April – Sunday 25 May. Montsalvat Artists Community, Eltham VIC