THE Mission to Seafarers’ Maritime Art Prize & Exhibition is an international competition that is hosted at the heritage-listed Mission building in Melbourne’s Docklands and this year is celebrating 20 years of promoting excellence in maritime and seafaring subjects in art.
Artists are invited to respond to the theme “the relationship of humanity to the sea” for their share of $25,000 in prize money (increased from $20,000).
MtSV CEO Sue Dight said art inspires us to remember those who are working solidly to deliver our everyday items.
“The Maritime Art Prize and Exhibition, now in its 20th year, continues to highlights our role in supporting seafarers by providing the public with an understanding through art of the harsh and dangerous conditions that seafarers experience every day,” she said.
Our ongoing concern is for the thousands of crew members globally who are still stuck on board without shore leave (due to the global pandemic) and for some, abandoned a long way from home. Isolation harms us all and seafarers are suffering more than ever.”
The judges said: “Humanity encompasses the entire human race, displaying unique human characteristics such as compassion, sympathy, kindness, and mercy. ‘The relationship of humanity to the sea’ is a wonderful theme for an exhibition and as always artists embraced the theme and gave their individual interpretations, providing a diverse and thought-provoking group of entries.”
Last year, 80 artworks were shortlisted from a highly competitive field, including a greater number of interstate artists than previous years.
Entrants compete for five awards: Maritime Art Award, Best Traditional, Runner-Up, Emerging Artist, and People’s Choice Award.
- $15,000 2022 Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Maritime Art Award
- $6,000 Best in Traditional Maritime Art Award
- $3,000 Emerging Artist Award
- $2,000 People’s Choice Award
- $4,000 Runner-Up Award
Entries are open between 1 May through 31 August. The exhibition’s opening night and awards ceremony is to be held on 29 September, and the exhibition will be open from 30 September through 16 October at MtSV’s iconic building in Melbourne’s Docklands.
The annual event is a major fundraising initiative of the Mission to Seafarers-Victoria (MtSV).
MtSV provides welfare services to support the tireless work and hardships faced by those seafarers.
To continue to support their physical and mental wellbeing – especially during the global coronavirus pandemic when there has been limited shore leave in the Port of Melbourne – MtSV need funds to run its programs.
In a statement, MtSV said the generosity of MSC and the sponsors who provide the prize money and other in-kind contributions, and the artists who pay an entrance fee and a commission on all works that are sold, ensures the continued success and wide popularity of the Maritime Art Prize & Exhibition and in turn, supports those seafarers.
