Sydney-based artist Janet Laurence has been announced as the Professional Artist Prize winner of the 2025 Ravenswood Australian Women Art Prize, for her chromogenic print artwork, Moss Water Ice Temperature Rising, winning $35,000 in Australia’s highest-value professional artist prize for women.
Jade Oakley, Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize Patron and judge, said Janet’s winning work ‘presents a powerful message about climate change, addressing notions of care and healing for our natural world,’
The Emerging Artist Prize was won by artist Lilli Strömland for her oil on linen and stoneware work, Ode to Peaches and Cleaning, which the judges described as ‘a joyful and closely observed celebration of incidental objects that explore contemporary Australian domesticity.’
South Australian artist Fiona Pompey was named the winner of the Indigenous Emerging Artist Prize, for her acrylic on Belgian linen work, Tali Nguru, which the judges described as an ‘intriguing and exciting [work] as forms are disguised and revealed through a veil of rhythmic pattern.’
Selected from 1934 entrants (more than double the entries of the Archibald Prize), the 99 finalists in this year’s Art Prize comprised of 50 Professional Artists, 36 Emerging Artists and 13 Indigenous Emerging Artists (a record, following the highest number of Indigenous Emerging entrants). Entries represented every state and territory in Australia.
Principal of Ravenswood School for Girls Dr Anne Johnstone said, ‘Our vision and mission for the Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize is to empower women artists, both professional and emerging, by providing a significant platform to showcase their works and, importantly, as Australia’s most valuable art prize for women, to encourage them to continue creating art, expressing their unique gifts and perspective and having their voices heard.’
The 2025 finalists artworks are on display in the 2025 Exhibition of Finalists which is free and open to the public, Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm until 6 July at Ravenswood School for Girls in Gordon. The artworks can also be viewed through a virtual Exhibition tour at ravenswoodartprize.com.au where you can also purchase artworks until 6 July.