2 June 2016

The Art Gallery of New South Wales is pleased to announce young Australian female artist Elena Papanikolakis is the recipient of the 2016 Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship.

The Breuer Foundation established the scholarship last year, in collaboration with the Art Gallery of NSW, to support young Australian female artists for the purpose of travel and study in Paris. The scholarship commemorates the late Eva Breuer, one of Australia’s most loved and prolific art dealers who made a significant contribution to Australian art for over three decades.

As the recipient of the 2016 Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship, Papanikolakis will take up a three month residency at the Dr Denise Hickey Memorial Studio in Paris. The scholarship awards Papanikolakis a $25,000 stipend for living and travel expenses associated with the residency.

Based in Dulwich Hill, NSW Elena Papanikolakis is currently undertaking a studio residency at Parramatta Artists Studios. Papanikolakis draws inspiration for her work from mass media, personal narratives and the natural environment, using these sources to query the nature of experiences, function and authenticity. Her work uses collage, painting, photography and text to merge these narratives, geographies and time periods.

The Paris residency will present Papanikolakis the opportunity to engage with her own cultural narratives via the Louvre’s vast collection of Greek artefacts. She is enormously appreciative of the chance to dedicate herself to the study of such an iconic collection of artefacts.

“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to invest such a generous amount of time into the research of one of the world’s largest collections of Greek antiquities,” Papanikolakis said.

“The Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship provides a unique opportunity for me to dedicate three months to the research and development of my work in one of the greatest cultural meccas in the world – I can’t wait to get started,” Papanikolakis added.

The Gallery’s community program producer and member of the scholarship judging panel Jonathan Wilson said Papanikolakis’s work had been selected from a competitive array of applicants from across Australia.

“Research and travel opportunities play a key role in nurturing the creative talents of young Australian artists and the Gallery is delighted to partner with the Breuer Foundation in offering this brilliant scholarship,” Wilson said.

“Elena Papanikolakis’ work and proposal for her time in Paris demonstrated a great example of how being abroad would foster her practice – we look forward to seeing the results of her residency,” Wilson added.

About the Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship
The announcement of Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship is made each year at a special event at the Gallery that brings together the family and close friends of Eva Breuer, in remembrance – and celebration – of her life.

The recipient of the scholarship is chosen from one of the winners of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ existing residency scholarships that are awarded to up to ten Australian artists each year. Recipients of the scholarships stay at one of two of the Art Gallery of NSW’s studios at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris – either two months at the Moya Dyring Memorial Studio or three months at the Dr Denise Hickey Memorial Studio.

The Eva Breuer Scholarship provides the winning artist, a female under the age of 35, a $25,000 stipend for travel and living expenses associated with their residency scholarship. The scholarship is initially offered for three years from 2015 to 2017.

Studios in Paris Scholarships
The Art Gallery of NSW would also like to congratulate the following artists who have also been awarded a Studio Scholarship at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris:

Lynne Barwick, Erskineville, NSW
Elena Betros, Carlton North, VIC
Sadie Chandler, Carlton North, VIC
Chris Dolman, Glebe, NSW
Dr Anita Holtsclaw, New Farm, QLD
Anna McMahon, Stanmore, NSW
Kevin Platt, Woolloomooloo, NSW
and Madeleine Preston, Redfern, NSW