First Prize Category A – Primary & Secondary Visual Art
Sonya Clark
12, NSW, Australia
Stamp it Out
“The best way to avoid getting the flu is to get the flu vaccine every year. Influenza can spread quickly between people when an infected person coughs or sneezes, dispersing droplets of the virus into the air. It can be also spread by hands contaminated by the virus. Precautionary measures should be taken to limit transmission. People should cover their mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing, then throw it out and wash their hands thoroughly and regularly.”
First Prize Category B – Tertiary & Open Visual Art
Erzsebet Kis-Nagy
Budapest, Hungary
Solitude of the Spanish Steps
“My aim with this cylindrical artwork was to display the process of how an infectious disease can affect tourism. It takes place at a popular tourist attraction, where there is a crowd in the beginning. However, as you turn the cylinder, by the end, there is nothing left but the lonely stairs and some discarded masks. I created the drawing with graphite pencils and a highlighter on an empty Pringles can. My further intention with this concept was to propose an eco- friendly way of creating art by reusing household waste as a surface to draw or paint on.”
First Prize Category E – Tertiary & Open Short Film
Jamie Cardillo & Jarrah Palethorpe
17 & 18, ACT, Australia
The Door
“‘The Door’ is a short film by Canberra-based students Jamie Cardillo and Jarrah Palethorpe that answers the question ‘how can we protect ourselves from infectious disease?’. The flu vaccine mutates very rapidly, which means that flu vaccinations have to be updated every year. We wanted to illustrate why getting regular flu vaccines is so important, in a fun & easily understood manner. This comedic, no-dialogue film is based in visual storytelling, conveying our message in a way that effectively educates all age groups. We hope that this video shines some light on why annual flu vaccinations are so important. Remember: Don’t hesitate! Vaccinate!”
Merit Prize
Sian Burman
Victoria, Australia
Cocooned
“Infectious diseases have serious implications globally for the health, social functioning and economic prosperity of humanity. Within Australia however, successful immunisation programs have resulted in many dangerous diseases becoming increasingly rare. The image I’ve created of hands encompassing the figure of a baby illustrates how adult immunisation provides a circle of security to the young and the vulnerable.
In particular, parents are safe guarding their young children, who have increased risks of serious complications following infection with diseases such as Whooping Cough or Influenza.
The concept of providing a circle of security by being immunised as adults and then immunising children within the family unit reduces the spread of infection to others within communities. This is known as herd immunity.
For herd immunity to be successful it has to be global, as in this image of the vulnerable child placed within the world, cocooned by hands from attack by viruses.”
Christine Shen
14, Western Australia, Australia
Quarantine within a vending machine
“This artwork represents the craziness of society where everything is all other the place and how the people are affected by it and what they are doing as a reaction towards these strange things.”
Catherine Reynolds
NSW, Australia
Her wings were frayed, her face masked, but still she held on to hope
“Frontline Nurse with mask and wings.
Caressing her unborn child and preparing covid vaccines ready to protect the ‘herd’.“
Janet Fitzpatrick
Victoria, Australia
Remember the Mask
“Masks were first introduced in 17th or 18th century to protect people from spreading or acquiring infection. Vaccination & immunisation has a long history. Buddhists tried to reduce the toxicity of snake bites by swallowing venom. Chinese used a vaccine in the 17th century. Edward Jenner [1796] used exudate from CowPox lesions to vaccinate people against smallpox. Louis Pasteur was the next famous scientist ”the father of antisepsis”. In the 18th Century & later, vaccines or antitoxins were produced for diseases such as tetanus, cholera & influenza; BCG, for example is still used today to help prevent Tuberculosis. As a result of the Salk & Sabin vaccines, poliomyelitis has been almost completely eradicated, with the exception of a few areas in South America.Combined with simple protection, such as the humble MASK, immunisation can protect against many serious illnesses.”
Tully McArtur
9, Tasmania, Australia
Prevention
“Hand washing is really important to keep away germs and nasty bugs like gastro and the flu. When I wash my hands I say the name of all my friends and something I like about them ensure I wash long enough. I have tried to highlight this in my work.“
Jessica Oliver
Western Australia, Australia
The Scarcity of Surviving
“I created this artwork to represent how desperate we are to be saved. Seeing as the vaccine is limited and being a 13 year old girl, therefore unable to take it, is distressing. I feel that we all need to be saved, although us teenagers have the highest survival rate in the Covid period of time, some of us still died. I chose darker colours and line work to highlight the most important thing in the globe right now, that we need help.
I decided to include colours such as reds, dark oranges and ranges between bright oranges and whites for emphasis. The splatters of paint represent blood and the bacteria/germs flowing throughout our bloodstream and body. I find this art quite deep and meaningful even though I only included two main pieces.”
Jemima Selby
10, Tasmania, Australia
Save Lives – Vaccinate!
“Everyone needs to be vaccinated if they can. It stops them from getting sick and also stops people who can’t be vaccinated stay healthy and safe too.”
Lorents Railda
NSW, Australia
Be Responsible
“Last year showed us how fragile our world is. Just one single case put the whole world on hold and in chaos. In my artwork I want to show how immunisation is important, that people need to be responsible for their health, the health of their loved ones and the community. Through immunisation we can control the disease, instead of the disease controlling us.”
Brooke Daljac
14, Western Australia, Australia
The Cure
“This art piece is based on vaccinations. As you can see, there is a needle squirting a vaccine into the virus and slowly killing it. This shows us how aware we are of viruses and diseases and how quickly we need to react to them before they become catastrophic. I have used bright colours to depict the virus so that it can easily be seen when it is dead and that vaccines do work.”
Louisa Antico
NSW, Australia
The Air That I Breathe
“I have become acutely aware of the physical act of breathing since the pandemic became a reality of life in Australia. The discovery that the virus is airborne has dramatically changed the way we live.
My self-portrait ‘The Air That I Breathe’ is a direct response to the fact that every breath you take has, at one time or another, been associated with another living organism. We all breathe from one vast connected pool of air, and this connection we share with everyone around the world.”
We would like to thank our sponsor LZR Partners for all their support.
