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- Saatchi Gallery
- Art for Change Prize 2023: Regeneration
- Learn more
Auckland-born, Melbourne-based Artist Jen Valender has been named the Australian Winner for M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery’s Art For Change Prize Initiative.
A winner from each M&C Saatchi key global region (UK, Europe, Americas, Asia, Australia, and Middle East & Africa) has been carefully selected from over 3,000 entries from across 130 countries by some of the best business and creative minds from M&C Saatchi Group globally and a special selection of eminent guest judges. All artists’ winning works will be exhibited in a dedicated exhibition at Saatchi Gallery, an iconic platform for contemporary art, in London from 30th November 2023 until 7th January 2024.
The overall winner will be selected by a Grand Jury lead by Chair of Judges, Justine Simons, London’s deputy mayor for culture and creative industries and founder and chair of the World Cities Cultural Forum, alongside Saatchi Gallery director, Paul Foster, and one M&C Saatchi Group judge from each region. The winner will be announced on 29th November 2023.
This year’s climate-focused prize celebrates the power of global creativity to transform the conversation around the climate emergency. Patrick Guerrera, CEO at Re (part of M&C Saatchi Group) says: “It was an absolute privilege to judge this prize, as I was exposed to some of Australia’s most extraordinary artists, creating works around a theme that is so critical in these times. It was hard to choose a winner but Jen Valender’s evocative films were so emotionally expansive, that she was our clear choice in the end.”
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IMAGES:
Portrait of the artist, 2023, courtesy of Tom Noble.
Jen Valender, Artist as Animal, 2022, film still. Photo
Gene Alberts.
Jen Valender, Sediment, 2023, film still. Photo Gene
Alberts.