Sydney artist Fergus Berney-Gibson has won the A$15,000 Open Prize at the 40th annual Waverley Art Prize, one of Australia’s leading awards for emerging and mid-career visual artists. His silk-screen and mixed-media artwork, As if I would be proud of you, was selected from 733 entries, with only 40 finalists making this year’s exhibition at Bondi Pavilion Art Gallery.
Berney-Gibson’s winning work was inspired by a discarded photograph from a wedding in the late 1980s. The artist said he was fascinated by how photographs that once captured deeply significant life events gradually lose their emotional immediacy over time, becoming objects that evoke distance, memory and changing personal histories.
The judges—artist Janet Laurence, the inaugural winner of the prize in 1986, and gallery director Cassandra Bird—praised the high standard of this year’s entries. Bird described the prize as an important platform for supporting artists at pivotal stages of their careers and highlighted Berney-Gibson’s growing reputation as both a participant in the Waverley Artist Studios program and a recent top graduate of the National Art School.
Receiving the award, Berney-Gibson said the recognition was especially meaningful given the financial challenges facing many artists. He noted that the prize would provide valuable support, allowing him to continue producing ambitious new work while helping ease the pressures created by rising living costs.
Other major winners included Abby McCarthy, who received the A$2,500 Mayor’s Prize for Under the warmth of the sun, and Tara McIntosh, who won the A$1,500 Local Prize for My Grandfather was a Stablehand. The winning Open Prize and Mayor’s Prize works will become part of the Waverley Council Collection, while all finalist artworks remain on public display at Bondi Pavilion until 23 August as part of the Bondi Festival.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Waverley Art Prize has become one of Australia’s most respected platforms for painters and draftspersons. Organisers say the exhibition continues to play an important role in discovering new artistic talent while supporting the work of the Waverley Woollahra Art School, one of the country’s longest-running artist-led institutions.
