Dr Fiona Foley is a leading contemporary Australian artist with a practice encompassing painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, mixed-media work, found objects and installation to examine and dismantle historical stereotypes. Fiona will use the $10,000 scholarship to travel to her traditional Badtjala country surrounding Hervey Bay and Fraser Island to create a new series of gouache paintings on watercolour paper.

A descendant from the Badtjala people of K’gari (Fraser Island), she is currently based in Lismore, NSW. Foley explores a range of concerns through her practice including colonial race relations, sexuality and the experiences of Aboriginal populations at the turn of the twentieth century.

Mangrove Studies 1 (2018) Gouache on watercolour paper

Photo by Mick Richards