Tidal Acquisitive Art Award

The Tidal: City of Devonport National Art Award is a biennial, acquisitive award, which provides a contemporary platform for artists to reflect upon the Tidal theme and the myriad perspectives and challenges inherent within the interconnections of land and sea. These challenges may be personal or political, natural or cultural and therefore interpretations of the theme can vary considerably within a contemporary art context. Tidal was first launched in 2004, and since 2010 has been a $15,000 acquisitive award. As a result, five Tidal Award recipients’ works to date have become a part of the DCC Permanent Collection. 

The recipient of the first acquisitive Tidal Award in 2010 was Hobart-based photographer and cinematographer Matthew Newton, for his digital print Moonbird boy 3.  In 2012, Launceston-based artist Paul Snell received the Award for his work Elliptic # 201201. The third Award in 2014 was presented to yet another Tasmanian artist, Hobart-based Joel Crosswell, for his work Galaxias. Brisbane-based artist Julie Fragar received the 2016 Award for her painting Antonio Departs Flores on the Whaling Tide. Most recently, Sydney-based artist Julia Davis, received the Award in 2018 for her video installation Undercurrent.