1 February 2023
The Helpmann Academy is thrilled to announce that emerging multidisciplinary artist, Samuel Matthewman, is the recipient of the Helpmann Academy British School at Rome 2023 residency, valued at $30,000.
Sam is a recent graduate from the University of South Australia and is a queer artist and performer based on Kaurna Land. He is the recipient of a Carclew Fellowship and FELTspace Graduate Award and was the recipient of three awards at our Graduate Exhibition 2022, including the David Baker Innovation Award.
This life-changing opportunity will see Sam spend three-months at the British School at Rome – Britain’s leading humanities research institute abroad and one of the most prestigious foreign academies in the Italian capital. He will be allocated one of the British School at Rome’s light filled studio spaces as well as development opportunities to network and build his practice in an immersive artistic community. The residency culminates in the ‘Mostra’ 2023 exhibition featuring new work from the current resident artists.
As an emerging artist one of Sam’s main goals is to bring ‘circus arts’ into gallery spaces.
“Circus arts are an exceptional medium to express human potential and wonder. It is one of the earliest and most noble themes explored in visual art. Through interaction and creating a sense of wonder, I believe circus arts can make visual art and gallery spaces more accessible to the general public,” comments Sam.
Sam is passionate about producing art across a range of mediums – ceramics, crochet, circus – and encouraging new ways for viewers to engage with the work.
This incredible residency appealed to Sam after he contacted several academics in Italy and discovered that some of the only researchers looking into the acrobatic use of potter’s wheels in ancient Greece and Roman societies, were located there. The residency will afford him the time and space to make new connections and kickstart his career of bringing circus into gallery spaces.
Continues Sam, “my artist mentors have also fiercely encouraged my need to establish European networks due to the artistic climate there and circus’s greater artistic acceptance there… I was actually quite overwhelmed to hear that I was selected. This opportunity is something that I have been working towards in my career and I cannot wait to get to Rome. I even cried tears of joy!”
We will share updates on our Facebook and Instagram as Sam’s once in a lifetime experience unfolds.
This career-defining opportunity is generously funded by David and Pam McKee and the Lang Foundation.
Images: Supplied.