National treasure Ken Done, 2022 Archibald Prize winner Blak Douglas and designer Sarah Munro, from Sarah & Sebastian, will unveil their artworks that were inspired by the winners of the Fantastical Shark & Rays children’s art competition at the Australian Museum on Friday September 6.
The 10 winners will see their portrayals of Australia’s lesser-known sharks and rays reimagined by renowned Australian artists including Done, Douglas, Munro, Jennifer Turpin, Janet Laurence, Dion Horstmans, Rosie Deacon and Jonathan Zawada.
The children’s and artists’ work will then be displayed together at the Australian Museum’s Fantastical Sharks & Rays exhibition, which runs from September 7 to December 8.
Ken Done said: “This is a unique project and one that I am immensely looking forward to. If it helps to protect some of the world’s endangered species, that would be a great achievement for us all.”
Dhungatti painter Blak Douglas (aka Adam Hill) said: “The idea of translating a student artwork for public exhibition is unique to me. I’m particularly excited here as we shall exhibit within the great walls of my former workplace.”
The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and Humane Society International Australia ran a competition last summer asking budding Picassos to create an artwork depicting one of 10 of Australia’s unique threatened or endangered sharks and rays. Not a lot is known about these creatures so the children were given a written description of the animals to spark their imaginations. We received 1500 entries from all over Australia.
For example, the lined lantern shark was described as “More like a tadpole than a shark, this tiny creature fits in the palm of your hand. With light-emitting organs, it even GLOWS!”
The 10 lesser-known sharks and rays include the greeneye spurdog, which uses its big green eyes to see in almost pitch-black depths up to 1 kilometre down. The whitefin swellshark will swallow water to swell up almost twice its girth to make itself look bigger and harder to eat. The bright-yellow-and-white-speckled eastern angelshark lays buried in the sand on the seafloor for days on end before it ambushes prey that swims above its mouth.
The Australian Museum
1 William Street, Sydney
https://australian.museum
