Moreton Bay Outdoor Art Prize - 2026 winners
As part of the Moreton Bay Region Art Prize for 2026, artists were invited to enter their works for the Outdoor Art Prize. The artworks of the six finalists are displayed on banners at various locations across Moreton Bay from 18 May 2026 to 15 June 2026. Congratulations to the following artists for having their works selected:
The Swimmers
Julie Bruce, 2024
Artist statement
The inspiration for this artwork is seeking relaxation and the cooling qualities at the local pool. Beach and pool life in Australia is known as the great equaliser, where everyone is welcome. The artwork depicts swimmers relaxing in the pool and captures a sense of community and connection. Various shapes and dynamic colours are juxtaposed, whilst the cooling water unites the composition. Mixed media, collage papers, Gelli printing and ink pencils on craft paper substrate have been used to create the collage painting.
A sense of freedom and inclusion invites viewers to engage through personal memories of such languorous summer days.
Judge’s note
The fresh colour palette creates a sumptuous atmosphere while the playful material sensibility offers dazzling surface tension. An engaging and uplifting work with affective and atmospheric impact.
Banner location
Opposite Cypress Avenue, Woorim | View map
No Parking of Trucks
Kylie Harries, 2025
Artist statement
No Parking of Trucks is simply that. A place where large vehicles aren’t welcome. There’s something uniquely Australian about this scene – layers of painted lettering rendered illegible by the scorching sun, the oxidised teal painted besser block wall, the vintage breezeblocks and louvres capturing hot wind blowing across the concrete carpark. Hidden in the periphery, a vehicle. Is it a truck? We’ll never know. This nostalgic landscape reminds us that some spaces remain exclusionary.
Judge's note
The photograph centres around a phrase of hand-painted text that appears to mock its own authority, all the while both excluding and including the subject of trucks. The artist’s framing reveals strong compositional awareness, conceptual intrigue, and an understanding of the subtleties of Australian vernacular humour.
Banner location
Samford Road, Samford Village | View map
When Learning Looks Like Leisure
Julie Purcell, 2025
Artist statement
Like a little kid sizing up a big slide or intimidating climbing frame, I had to lift my creative game to complete this hand-achingly detailed panoramic scene — a perfect day (really the result of about six perfect days) at Pine Rivers Park. I usually paint in oils en plein air, but colour pencil studies became my workaround for fitting in bursts of art-making amid the group admin and coordination I undertook while part of the inaugural cohort at Park Studio Residency Space in Pine Rivers Park.
To avoid RSI and keep the scene inventive, I used pattern and shorthand techniques to do the heavy lifting when rendering the diversity of park surfaces and textures. Two-hour bursts worked best; beyond that, I became mentally stumped by decision fatigue. Regular trips outdoors helped me overcome representational hurdles, marking this piece a turning point in my process and expressive repertoire.
Judge’s note
When Learning Looks Like Leisure is dazzling in its deft use of various mark-making techniques to establish pictorial depth, tonal variation, and surface energy. The work is technically proficient and displays a considerable understanding of colour relationships.
Banner location
Ruth Whitfield Memorial Park, Kallangur | View map
Big Coral Cod
Martin Edge, 2025
Artist statement
I think that life is a great adventure and I love to travel. Generally, my paintings are of places I’ve visited and loved, and sometimes I like to include myself in the composition as a memory of my experience in that place. I paint the world according to Martin.
I like to depict many of Australia's famous landmarks, including Uluru, Sydney Harbour, and, of course, the Great Barrier Reef. This is a coral cod I saw when I went snorkelling a few years ago.
Judge’s note
The chosen colour palette is rich and varied, with the central combination of blue and ochre (orange) revealing a good understanding of complementary colour relationships. The work is simple in its focus; however, the intuitive rendering and playful style charge the simple subject matter with an atmosphere of celebration and awe.
Banner location
Dawson Parade, Arana Hills | View map
Busty Baby Doll and Queen Bee Baby Doll
Khristie Barratt, 2026
Artist statement
My Babydoll series explores the intersection of pop culture, identity, and iconography through screen-printed portraits on nostalgic and vintage surfaces. Each piece celebrates individuality—highlighting signature hairstyles, tattoos, and personal style—while reflecting on the performative roles women occupy as artists, cultural figures, and public personas.
These portraits celebrate two influential Brisbane arts leaders and performers: Lisa Fa’alafi and Kim "Busty Beats" Bowers, co-founders of Hot Brown Honey and Hive City Legacy. Rendered as vintage, kitschy dolls, the works playfully reflect their public personas as performers while acknowledging the ways women’s bodies and identities are consumed in culture.
Through bright, nostalgic imagery and pop aesthetics, the portraits honour Lisa and Kim as cultural icons—figures of strength, creativity, and resilience—while highlighting the complex interplay between admiration, performance, and commodification. These works are gestures of celebration, turning the gaze back on these women as both subjects and symbols of empowerment.
Judge’s note
Busty Baby Boll and Queen Bee Baby Doll is a playful and powerful depiction of two leaders from Brisbane’s art scene. The artist utilises cute and kitschy pop aesthetics to strategically suggest commodity fetishism while simultaneously insisting on the agency and self-determination of the Baby Dolls through the inclusion of various symbols of power, identity, and resistance for BIPOC communities (such as comb earrings, tatau, and leopard print). This work would be a great addition to public space and a powerful reminder of the diversity and resilience of First Nations and Pacific Islands communities in our region.
Banner location
Deception Bay Road, Deception Bay | View map
Dyurali
Nicole Gulwell, 2025
Artist statement
Nicole Gulwell is a Dharug and Kamilaroi descendant and a young emerging artist. Her work consists of mixed media paintings and photography of QLD and NSW landscapes, and digital illustrations that commonly discuss and challenge representations of country.
“Dyurali is a Dharug word meaning “to grow”.
Everything in the artwork is inspired by Country and the community. Moreton Bay’s wetlands of glowing trees hidden in ferns and vines, the fairy wings inspired by the Rock Ringlet Butterfly, and the young fairies themselves were inspired by two young girls of my community playing together while we waited to perform at the women’s sacred site.
Growing up, I had lots of fairy books and shows. Each captured my imagination with stunning wing designs and magical environments. However, as whimsical as they all were, the representations of country felt distant and foreign, even the ones created by Australian artists. Dyurali is this imaginative representation of country and community that I felt was missing from the picture books of my 2010’s childhood. “
Judge’s note
The work is dreamy and inviting in its use of glistening light, soft fronds, and glowing Rock Ringlet Butterfly wings, yet even more powerful in its reclaiming of depictions of Country in Australian fairy stories. Here we see Dharug children playing on Dharug Country: a Dharug fairy story inspired by the artist’s own experiences, which subverts the exclusion of First Peoples in Australian art historical depictions of land and celebrates the ever-changing lifeworlds of First Peoples.
Banner location
CREEC, Rowley Road, Burpengary | View map