Hunter Emerging Art Prize
Finalists and Winners
YEAR:
2026
Category:
Works on Paper / Photomedia
Artist Name:
Michael Hannah
Title:
Dissolution

Materials:
Gouache on paper
Dimensions:
37x59cm
Price
$350
About the artwork:
Landscapes evolve over long periods of time, usually imperceptibly in a human lifespan but sometimes in sudden and destructive ways. My series of gouache paintings represent three Australian landscapes, “dissolving” slowly over time as the forces of weathering and erosion do their work. But the dissolution of these landscapes becomes a source for the formation of new landscapes, sometimes far from the original. So landscape evolution is a cycle of formation, dissolution and reformation. This can act as a metaphor for life. All around us we see growth, decay and new life, in which each of us participates. Gouache is a wonderful medium for small studies such as these and maintaining a monochrome palette helps to make the progressive changes clearer than a polychrome palette would.
