Introducing the 2024 La Prairie Art Award winner

The room was abuzz with photographers and journalists anticipating the announcement of 2024’s winner of the La Prairie Art Award at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW). Occupying the space behind the podium were two artworks – the first hint at this year’s recipient.

The award was born from a seven-year partnership between AGNSW and Swiss luxury skincare brand La Prairie. It is an initiative that supports Australian women artists, awarding them with a place in the art gallery’s permanent collection, a residency in Europe and a trip to this year’s Art Basel International Art Fair 2024 in Switzerland.

In her address, Maud Page, deputy director and director of collections at AGNSW, emphasised the importance of women being included in narratives and sightlines within the gallery’s exhibitions and how this initiative helps to grow the collection of art by contemporary women. Rosi Fernandez, managing director of La Prairie Group Aus/NZ, spoke on the partnership with AGNSW: “La Prairie’s founding principles are intrinsically intertwined with the contemporary art world and the contemporary woman of today.”

Inciting excitement and applause from her family and the crowd, Filipina-Australian artist Marikit Santiago was announced as this year’s winner. In her acceptance speech, the Western Sydney-based creative began by paying her respects to the land on which the art gallery sits, where she lives, works and raises her children, and the land that has provided her parents with opportunity. She also expressed admiration for previous winners of the award, Thea Anamara Perkins in 2023 and Atong Atem in 2022.

Inciting excitement and applause from her family and the crowd, Filipina-Australian artist Marikit Santiago was announced as this year’s winner.

With the ambition to excel, Marikit is driven by the preconceptions others make about her.

“The life of an artist is veiled by the glamour of public celebrations; exhibition openings, gala dinners, announcements,” says Marikit, “but what precedes those accolades are long solitary hours in the studio, self-doubt, disappointments and an anguish endured only by the artist and witnessed only by those close to them.”

She explains how a career like hers is not always viable, especially for people like her. With the ambition to excel, Marikit is driven by the preconceptions others make about her. “Art is a powerful agent to incite change,” she continues. It is used to present our true selves, and it is this legacy of twisting conceptions that she forges for her children. “For someone like me to be awarded something like this is immensely significant.”

The artworks, now in the ‘Making Worlds’ exhibition, communicate an obvious tenderness and aim to alleviate the harshness of the world through showing what nourishes us – our loved ones.

Her two artworks, A Seat at the Table (Magulang) and A Seat at the Table (Kapatid), convey that there is no art without family. In every piece she creates, her children are involved, leave their mark and credited as collaborators. The artworks, now in the ‘Making Worlds’ exhibition, communicate an obvious tenderness and aim to alleviate the harshness of the world through showing what nourishes us – our loved ones.

Composed using cardboard, oil paints, gold leaf and markers, the evocative works mirror Marikit’s humble nature. The works offer an invitation into the dynamic of her family but largely aim to represent the collective experience of migrants and second-generation migrants.

Her two artworks, A Seat at the Table (Magulang) and A Seat at the Table (Kapatid), convey that there is no art without family.

A Seat at the Table (Magulang) is a portrait of her parents, celebrating them while also acknowledging the nuanced intergenerational politics at the dining table. A Seat at the Table (Kapatid) is an inverted portrait of Marikit sitting next to her sister behind a table laid with a python and narcissus daisies. The themes depicted in this artwork include temptation and sin.

Marakit ended her speech by thanking AGNSW and La Prairie for an initiative that “demonstrates the importance of placing [women’s’] work in institutional collections.” She tearfully thanked her parents, sister, husband and children, saying that they “are and forever will be [her] greatest works of art”.

Prior to this recognition, Marikit was a finalist for the Archibald Prize in 2016, 2021 and 2023 and the winner of the 2020 Sir John Sulman Prize for a painting depicting her three children.

Santiago’s works A Seat at the Table (Magulang) and A Seat at the Table (Kapatid) are on display on as part of the ‘Making Worlds’ exhibition on lower level 1 of the art gallery’s North Building until July 28 2024.

Images courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.