APS' Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize crowns winner for 2022

The Australian Photographic Society (APS) has announced Canberra-based photographer Sammy Hawker as the winner of the 2022 Mullins Contemporary Photographic Prize (MACPP) for the work titled Mount Gulaga. 

This year's judging panel included Heide Romano, Alex Wisser and Bill Bachman. 

Hawker's work was selected as the overall winner from the competition's largest pool of entries yet. This year saw 260 submissions come in from 134 different entrants. As winner, Hawker takes home a $15,000 cash prize and Mount Gulaga will become part of the Muswellbrook Regional Art Centre’s permanent collection of post-war contemporary paintings, ceramics and photography.

Hawker was not a member of the APS, but has now been given a free 12-month membership. APS memberships were given to all finalists who were not APS members prior to entering the competition. Every finalist will also receive a bound photobook containing all the finalist images.

The concept statement for Mount Gulaga reads:

"This work was captured on 4x5 film looking out towards Mount Gulaga from the Wallaga Lake headland. I processed the negative with ocean water collected from site. When processing film with salt water, the corrosive properties lift the silver emulsion and the representational image is rendered vague."

"However, an essence of the site is introduced to the frame as the vibrant matter paints its way onto the negative. A ghost of Gulaga looms behind the abstraction ~ felt rather than seen."

The works of all 30 finalists are now on show at the Muswellbrook Regional Art Centre. The exhibition is open from today and is set to run until 27 August 2022. 

The winning works and those of all the other finalists, together with their associated concept statements, can be found here.