Tim Olsen Drawing Prize 

Featuring work by Adrian Mok, Amelia van der Laan de Vries, Anika Campbell, Astrid Elouise Bell, Charles Levi, Conor Parsons, Emma Pinsent, Emma Vey-Cox, Eva Nolan, Evan Ye, George Eggleton, Harrison Mae, Jasmin Smith, Jeremy Smith, Kristy Gordon, Matti, Nicola de Vries, Rachel Hegh, Tia Madden, Vanessa Yeoh and Zoe Patsiokostas.

AD Space
28 September- 8 October, 2022

Amelia van der Laan is the winner of the 2022 Tim Olsen Prize.
Instagram: @ vanderlaanamelia



Anisha Sawaid (AS): Tell us a bit about yourself as an artist.

Amelia van der Laan (AVL): I’ve been studying at UNSW for a couple of years now (Double degree of Fine Arts and Science), and I am majoring in Painting and Sculptor. I do a lot of installation, sculptural work as well as drawing. I’ve always had a focus on drawing as the main foundation of my work, but I also like to integrate it into the sculptural, instillations works as well. I always tend to go back to drawing as my main practice.

AS: Right now, what would you say are your main inspirations / current explorations as an artist?

AVL: At the moment, I’m focusing on graph work and making an astrolabe, which is an old time keeping/navigation device. So I’m really interested in time and the cultural/historical concepts of time. Particularly how they’ve changed over time within these cultures and histories.

AS: Tell me about your work that was the selected winner of the Tim Olsen Prize 2022.

AVL: The work is a series of drawings that has been influenced by the style of old taxonomy charts. It features Carolus Linnaeus who is considered the father of taxonomy, in different stages of reproduction. It is looking at the history of taxonomy and the link between taxonomy and scientific racism, and the control of the reproductive rights of individuals throughout history. Particularly with the Eugenics movement, which was the main influence of this work. When looking at scientific reproductive studies, they use zebra fish as they have a fast breeding cycle, so I took the stages (first being chase, second being contact, etc) and used them to differentiate the drawings. The piece is a work in progress as the completed work is a series of 5, which are still being finalised, but I initially began this piece in lockdown so it has been a continuous work from then.

AS: How does this piece showcase/reflect you as an artist?

AVL: Doing a double degree in Science and Fine Arts has allowed me to showcase my interests in both sides and this piece definitely reflects that. But this was definitely a project that I have been passionate about and enjoyed.

Artist Statement for “Reproductive Behaviour of Fish”:

“These two works are from a series of drawings which depict Carl Linnaeus, known as the father of taxonomy, in different stages of reproductive courtship with a zebrafish. Surrounding this, other fish appear whose scientific names were given after ‘fathers’ of different scientific fields (in Stage I) and political leaders (in Stage II). The series aims to challenge power relations and perceived hierarchies of knowledge in science and western culture. It references the historical link between taxonomy and scientific racism, and the paternalistic control of individuals’ reproductive rights (based on racist measures of intelligence) during the eugenics movement. The work highlights the irony of eugenic thought in the face of current knowledge of our close genetic similarity to fish, and questions the limits of western systems of knowledge, which have become increasingly disconnected from nature.”