Newell Harry wins Pernod Ricard Fellowship

UNSW Art & Design alumn artist Newell Harry has been selected alongside contemporary artist peers from Brazil, France, Morocco and Russia for a prestigious Pernod Richard Fellowship. 

Pernod Ricard has joined forces with Villa Vassilieff to create the Pernod Ricard Fellowship: a program aimed at sup­porting four inter­na­tional artists, cura­tors and researchers in res­i­dence every year.

Selected by an inter­na­tional com­mittee con­sisting of ten mem­bers, the four Pernod Ricard Fellows are each invited to spend three months in res­i­dency within the his­tor­ical studio at the Villa Vassilieff.

The Fellowships are a unique oppor­tu­nity for these artists and researchers to enhance their vision and to focus on their own work or any other pro­jects. 

Reflecting the cos­mopolitan iden­tity and con­vivial atmo­sphere of the former studio of Marie Vassilieff, the Fellows enjoy bespoke sup­port from researchers and art pro­fes­sionals, along with access to a rich net­work of insti­tu­tions in France and abroad, such as the Centre Pompidou (a long­standing partner of Pernod Ricard and Bétonsalon – Center for Art and Research) and the Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, a partner in the pro­ject.

UNSW Art & Design BFA (Hons) and MFA graduate Newell Harry is an Australian-born artist of South African and Mauritian des­cent.  For over the past decade his pro­jects have drawn from an inti­mate web of recur­ring travels and con­nec­tions across Oceania and the wider Asia-Pacific, to South Africa’s Western Cape Province where the artist’s extended family con­tinue to reside. From Pidgin and Creole lan­guages to modes of exchange in the ‘gift economies’ of the South Pacific, Harry’s inter­ests often cul­mi­nate in cul­tur­ally ‘entan­gled’ instal­la­tions con­flating more linear atti­tudes to lan­guage, col­lec­tion and mate­rial.

Key exhi­bi­tions by Harry include: Known/Unknowns, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney (2017); Tidalectics, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (2017); All the World’s Futures– 56th Venice Biennale (2015), Suspended Histories, Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam (2013); Rendez Vous 11 & 12, Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne, France (2011) & South African National Gallery, Cape Town (2012); (Untitled): 12th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2011) and The 17th Biennale of Sydney: The Beauty of Distance, Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age, Sydney (2010).

The Pernod Ricard Fellowship is con­ceived as a plat­form for artistic research ded­i­cated to the exper­i­men­ta­tion of both non-linear models of cre­ation and knowl­edge dis­tri­bu­tion between researchers, con­tem­po­rary artists, cul­tural insti­tu­tions, non-profit orga­ni­sa­tions and the gen­eral public. The Pernod Ricard Fellows also ben­efit from numerous research pro­grams focusing on unex­plored resources, devel­oped by Villa Vassilieff in col­lab­o­ra­tion with museums, public and pri­vate archives, as well as uni­ver­si­ties and art schools. Lastly, the Fellows will enjoy a dynamic events pro­gramme at Villa Vassilieff, offering var­ious options for con­ducting new inves­ti­ga­tions and col­lecting mul­tiple nar­ra­tives of our glob­al­ized world.