OUR MOB 2021 Emerging Artist Prize Winner Announced

Kaurna, Narungga artist Jay Milera was announced the winner of the $5,000 Don Dunstan Foundation OUR MOB Emerging Artist Prize during the 2021 OUR MOB awards ceremony at Adelaide Festival Centre.

Milera impressed the judges with her artwork, titled Land Meets Sea, an acrylic on canvas painting with a captivating shell in the centre. The prize win will allow the talented artist to continue her workshops that mentor young adults with her traditional Aboriginal art in a variety of artistic styles.

The painting was inspired by Milera’s Narungga heritage, culture and community. Jay Milera: “It represents a coming together of land, sea and sky. Narungga are water people. We are connected to the sea, the land and the sky through various Dreaming stories such as the Seven Sisters, Gynburra (Butterfish) and Bruthera’s Rock Dreaming stories.

“This painting represents an intersection of these Dreaming stories and my Narungga cultural connections.”

The 2021 OUR MOB exhibition will be on display to the public at Adelaide Festival Centre’s Artspace Gallery from September 1 to 30 and will feature three main components: OUR MOB: Art by South Australian Aboriginal Artists, OUR YOUNG MOB: Art by Aboriginal Artists 18 years and under and the Don Dunstan Foundation Prize solo exhibition, created by 2019’s Emerging Artist Award recipient, Ngarrindjeri, Narrungga and Ngadjuri artist Sonya Rankine.

Since its inception in 2006, Adelaide Festival Centre’s OUR MOB exhibition has showcased the quality and diversity of art by South Australian First Nation artists, boosting the careers of many artists, and generating direct-to-artist sales to support their art practices.