Winner of the National Hero’s Journey Art Prize ‘The Road Of Hope’ By Stella Evans

The winner of aMBUSH Gallery’s poster exhibition, The National Hero’s Journey Art Prize, has been awarded to Wollongong University student, Stella Evans.

Evans’ work, The Road Of Hope, was inspired by the struggles her own family, who are from Boorowa in New South Wales, have endured during what she has described as,“the worst drought in living memory.”

The Road Of Hope fulfilled the brief, which was to create a time capsule showing how the world we live in is responding to the times. Evans’ family comes from generations of farmers and she has dedicated her poster not only to them but to the land.

“My work is about holding onto hope in all its aspects through focusing on the resilience of the people. To me the farmers are the heroes.”

The work is a digital representation based on a photo of her father and his hay truck on the farm to which Evans has added other elements such as the windmill. The sheep and the trees are spaced apart as if adhering to the rules of social distancing. The colours chosen reflect the Aussie landscape and the red earth devoid of green and therefore devoid of feed for the animals. The style of the poster is also reflective of the 1930s, an era of contrasting elegance and poverty in the time of the great depression.

The judges were very impressed by Evans response to the brief and what one of the judges, Jaklyn Babington, described as, “her ambitious drive to alert those living in metropolitan areas to the relentless challenges faced daily by those living and working in rural Australia.”

Until Nov 17. aMBUSH Gallery, 4a James Street, Waterloo. Info: www.ambushgallery.com

By Renee Lou Dallow