Once again the judges of the Blake Prize for Religious Art have been innovative and courted controversy. In announcing the 2009 winner last Thursday evening, they steered away from traditional art and, for the first time, awarded the prize to a new media work, a piece of video art.
Entitled Rapture (silent anthem), the ten minute video is by Sydney artist Angelica Mesiti. It depicts in slow motion, and without sound, the ecstatic faces of youth enraptured by music and the experience of a big concert (click image to view fill video). It was shot at the Big Day Out earlier this year in Sydney, with the camera placed beneath the stage looking back into the crowd.
In the judges' comments about the video, they 'praised it for its beauty, emotional intensity and technical virtuousity. An enigmatic work that operates on many levels, Rapture depicts the joy of being alive while also hinting at the darker aspects of religious emotion.'
At the opening of this year's Blake exhibition, I was thrilled to hear that this luminous, thoughtful, and highly accomplished work had won. But I have to confess to some biases. First, I am a member of the Blake Society, which makes me an enthusiastic supporter of the Blake Prize.
Second, for many years I made documentaries for television. While my works were never in the realm of high art, they gave me a love of video as a medium, and an awareness of its possibilities for artistic expression. For some years I have been hoping that a video artwork would win the Blake, and now it's happened.
And third, one of the documentaries I made a few years ago for the Compass strand, called Chasing the Blake, took me behind the scenes of the Blake Prize. (The documentary and a transcript are available on the Compass website.) It followed four artists through preparation and execution of their works, entry into the prize, judging, and the tension of the big night announcing the winner.
Also it looked at the history of the Blake Prize, and the passion, controversy and questions that have always swirled around it. Just what is religion, and what is religious art anyway? Is art that challenges religious orthodoxies, that is 'blasphemous', appropriate for the prize?
Once again this year, in the lead-up to the announcement of the prize, some church