Malachi Oldridge’s tribute to E. Mervyn Taylor is the People’s Choice
Palmerston North artist Malachi Oldridge has won the 2019 IHC Art Awards People’s Choice Award for his work, My Nani as a Māori Girl.
My Nani as a Māori Girl was selected as the favourite from the 30 finalists in this year’s IHC Art Awards, receiving 425 votes from the public.
Josie Bode’s, Squall, came in second with 262 votes, followed by Amy Hall’s stitch work, Sailor Moon which received 180 votes in total.
My Nani as a Māori Girl is a pencil drawing on paper tribute to Malachi’s Grandmother. She has been a recurring inspiration for Malachi, with her also featuring in his 2018 IHC Art Awards entry. My Nani as a Māori Girl is also influenced by the late E. Mervyn Taylor’s artwork, Māori Girl (Hina).
Malachi will be presented with the People’s Choice Award and his prize of $1000 on Thursday 5 September at the IHC Art Awards gala evening at Shed 6, in Wellington. At the same time, the winners of the top three prizes for the 2019 IHC Art Awards will also be announced and all 30 finalist artworks auctioned, with all proceeds going directly to the artists.
About the IHC Art Awards
The IHC Art Awards provides artists with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to have their talent recognised, their voices heard and to sell their work. We get hundreds of entries every year with art selling well and some artists going on to exhibit nationally or internationally.
The national finals of IHC Art Awards showcase the 30 strongest examples of work.
The Art Awards started in 2004 and the first national exhibition of finalists was held at the Britomart Centre in Auckland from a pool of nearly 300 entries. In 2005 there were 14,000 visitors to the national exhibition at The Dowse in Lower Hutt. By 2006 the number of entries had doubled to more than 600 and by 2007 there were more than 700 – still the highest number so far.
With each Art Awards event, community recognition of the artists has increased. Some of the artists have developed a following among buyers and a number have exhibited locally, nationally and internationally.
The IHC Art Awards are open to all New Zealanders with an intellectual disability, age 13 or over, regardless of whether they use IHC, IDEA Services or Choices New Zealand. The artworks traditionally cover everything from sculptures, installations and textile art, to painting and drawing.
The major sponsor of the IHC Art Awards is the Holdsworth Charitable Trust.
