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Study at UNSW School of Art & Design
Explore undergraduate and Honours degrees in Visual Arts, Design, Animation & Moving Image, and Art Theory; and postgraduate and research degrees in Fine Arts, Design, Curating & Cultural Leadership, Animation & Visual Effects, and Simulation & Immersive Technologies.
Gosha Heldtz selected for national graduate showcase
Congratulations to Gosha Heldtz, who is among only 23 artists from 20 tertiary art schools chosen for ‘Hatched: National Graduate Show 2025’. Now in its 34th year, the exhibition showcases the next generation of Australia’s contemporary creative voices.
In previous years, UNSW has been represented by Ramesh Nithiyendran, Dennis Golding and Vedika Rampal, who won the 2024 Schenberg Arts Award for an exceptional artist in the exhibition.
The winner of the 2025 awards will be announced at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts on 1 August and the exhibition will be on display until 5 October.
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Image: Gosha Heldtz at the 2024 NAIDOC Week Open Studios. Photograph by Carmen Schieb.
Jack Ball wins $100,000 Ramsay Art Prize 2025
Congratulations to academic Jack Ball, winner of the $100,000 Ramsay Art Prize 2025, the nation’s most generous prize for Australian artists under forty, with the work Heavy Grit.
The winning work was developed in response to a collection of scrapbooks held by the Australian Queer Archives. Ball’s work reveals fragments and glimpses of queer histories, layering archival materials with personal images and soft form sculptures, and creating an interplay between the past and the present.
The judges were unanimous in their decision and describe the winning work as sensual, experimental and sophisticated. The work now becomes part of the collection at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
The Ramsay Art Prize 2025 is on display until 31 August. The other finalists exhibited include current PhD candidate Shireen Taweel and alumni Clara Adolphs, Jordan Gogos, Jason Phu and Tom Polo.
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Image: Jack Ball with Heavy Grit in Ramsay Art Prize 2025, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. Photography by Saul Steed.
20 works nominated for the 2025 Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes
Twenty works by students, staff and alum are finalists in the 2025 Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes.
Congratulations especially to current students Remy Faint for his first nomination and Billy Bain, who has been nominated for two prizes.
All of the nominated work will be on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 10 May – 17 August.
2025 Archibald Prize finalists
- Abdul Abdullah (Master of Fine Arts (Research), 2017)
- Billy Bain (Master of Fine Arts (Research) candidate)
- Clara Adolphs (Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2008)
- Jason Phu (Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2012)
- Joan Ross (Master of Fine Arts, 2012)
- Christophe Domergue (Master of Art, 2017)
- Loribelle Spirovski (Bachelor of Arts (Art Education), 2012)
- Remy Faint (Master of Fine Arts (Research) candidate)
2025 Wynne Prize finalists
- Billy Bain (Master of Fine Arts (Research) candidate)
- Cybele Cox (Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1994)
- Joe Frost (Master of Fine Arts, 2002)
- Jude Rae (GradDip in Professional Art Studies, 1984)
- Mehwish Iqbal (Master of Fine Arts, 2008)
- Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran (Master of Fine Arts (Research), 2013)
- Seth Birchall (Master of Art, 2011)
- Tim Silver (Master of Fine Arts (Research), 2004)
2025 Sulman Prize finalists
- Belem Lett (Master of Fine Arts, 2013)
- Jedda Daisy Culley (Master of Fine Arts, 2011)
- John Spiteri (Master of Fine Arts, 2001)
- Sarah Contos (Master of Art, 2010)
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Featured image: Billy Bain ‘Rona and Pig at Palm Valley’ 2025, oil on linen; recycled timber frame with ceramic tiles, 141.7 x 181.9 cm frame © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.
Statement in support of Khaled Sabsabi
The UNSW School of Art & Design deeply regrets the decision taken by the Board of Creative Australia to cancel the artistic team chosen for the 2026 Venice Biennale. We stand by our alumnus Khaled Sabsabi and note that the Board has found his work to be reflective of “the diversity and plurality of Australia’s rich culture, and will spark meaningful conversations with audiences around the world.” (Creative Australia’s CEO Adrian Collette). This remains the case regardless of the political considerations behind this decision.
In the aftermath of this decision, we think it is important to remind everyone that Khaled is a community minded artist who has worked in detention centres, schools, prisons, refugee camps, hospitals and youth centres in Australia and overseas and has produced many thousands of images in his 35 year career. This vast body of work has been eclipsed in recent media coverage by an obsessive focus on just one or two of these images.
We wish the Board all the very best in managing the current political sensitivities now intruding on their decision making such that ‘risk management’ appears to be taking priority over the board’s stated values which include: ‘Diversity: embracing difference’ and ‘Leadership: advocate and empower’.
- Professor Edward Scheer, Head of School | 14 February 2025
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Photograph by Anna Kucera
What's on
Find out more about current exhibitions, register for upcoming events and read about the recent achievements of our students, staff and alumni.
World-class facilities in Sydney's creative hub
As a student at UNSW School of Art & Design, you have access to world-class facilities, innovative resources and opportunities to study and work internationally.
Our specialist campus incorporates museum-standard galleries and state-of-the-art workshops, open studios and private workspaces, research and digital labs, lounges and collaboration spaces.
Acknowledgement of Country
UNSW School of Art & Design stands on an important place of learning and exchange first occupied by the Bidjigal and Gadigal peoples.
We acknowledge the Bidjigal and Gadigal peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land that our students and staff share, create and operate on. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend this respect to all First Nations peoples across Australia. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
