The Percivals 2024

Holly Arden: Welcome to The Percivals in 2024. We started this competition in 2007, and it celebrates contemporary portraiture in a myriad of forms. The categories are painting, photography and the depiction of animals. The 85 finalists on display here at the gallery are the result of a rigorous judging process beginning with six judges from around the nation and then three finalist judges: Bradley Vincent, Tony Albert and Chris Pretorius.

Bradley Vincent: It's a beautiful selection of works in this final hang. It's a really high standard of exhibition this year and a very thoughtful selection of final works.

Tony Albert: When being able to engage with a prize like The Percivals, it means looking outside the scope of just big major cities in Australia and what I love is that bigger and broader audiences get the opportunity engage with art in a very meaningful way.

Seabastion Toast: Winning this prize is quite enormous for my career. I'm so happy every day that I get to paint, and this award means that I can have more days doing that. I would just like to thank Townsville City Galleries for facilitating this award and this incredible opportunity for not only me, but all the other artists that are here.

Elissa Sampson: Just to be chosen and hung in any art prize is always a fantastic feeling, and to get a notification that you've actually won, that's just another level. And for me personally this year, this is the third time I've won this prize, and I'm just really chuffed and it's really validating as an artist.

Bradley Vincent: As a judge, you're privileged to get time alone with an exhibition and really interact with the works one-on-one and look for that work that really jumped off the walls and cried out as a winner.

Danish Quapoor: It's so gratifying to receive this award and have my work acquired for the Townsville City Council collection. I've been working consistently on my arts practice while working full-time for a number of years, so getting a prize like this gives me encouragement to keep making work and taking photographs and that my hard work is worth it. It is also particularly rewarding for the recognition to come from Tony Albert as the judge, whose work I respect and admire.

Tony Albert: As an artist, when I look at other people's artworks, I'm really looking and thinking about something which engages me in much more than just the likeless of the sitter or how well it's executed. For me, a great portrait tells a story. It gives us insight into someone's life, the way they think, whether it's social, economic, political, all these things can enter through an image through the vision of the artist, and that's what I'm looking for in a great photo. Something that takes me beyond what is just shown in front of me.

Holly Arden: Every two years, The Percivals is a huge project for both the Galleries team and our community, and we would like to thank our artists, our judges and our Galleries team for helping us to bring together this project. For many hundreds of years, artists have worked in the genre of portraiture. It's so compelling for artists and audiences alike. We love looking at people. So this year, I invite you to come to Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and see the best contemporary portraiture we have to offer here in Townsville.