Arts & Culture
4 November, 2025
63rd Fisher’s Ghost Art Award winner portrays “genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people”
Now in its 63rd year, the Fisher’s Ghost Art Exhibition, $50,000 prize for 2025, has been awarded to Nicole Barakat for her artwork protesting the “genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people” at the Campbelltown Arts Centre.
Now in its 63rd year, the Fisher’s Ghost Art Exhibition, $50,000 prize for 2025, has been awarded to Nicole Barakat for her artwork protesting the “genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people” at the Campbelltown Arts Centre.
The Award was unanimously granted to an installation critiquing Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, calling it “a catastrophe of genocide and ethnic cleansing”.
Entitled “A language for the emptiness of words,” by award-winning Lebanese-Australian artist Nicole Barakat, the artwork features disassembled items of white-coloured clothing strung up on a white background.
Nicole’s textile-based work was recognised for its conceptual depth and material sensitivity. The piece, made from deconstructed found garments, addresses themes of displacement, collective grief and silence in response to global conflict and loss.
In their statement, judges Eddie Abd, Blair French and Sidney McMahon described the work as “courageous and deeply resonant,” noting its “profound attunement to cultural, social and political undercurrents shaping the present moment.”
“Through Barakat’s intentional hollowing and deconstructing of found garments, the work’s materiality invites audiences to consider notions of silence, absence and re-membering,” the panel said. “It responds to global events with striking immediacy yet evokes a simultaneous sense of stillness.”
OTHER 2025 CATEGORY WINNERS INCLUDE:
Contemporary: Freya Jobbins, Self Portrait With Fish Hooks; Alannah Dair, of another (Highly Commended)
Traditional: Anamika, Raas (dance of love)
Macarthur Award: David Hawkes, 2560
Aboriginal Art Award: Miranda Hampson, WHERE THE TIDE LEFT ME BEHIND
Macability Award: Xeni Kusumitra, Gabriel at 12pm Angelus
People’s Choice Award: Talya Brookman, Tether
Primary Students: Harris Abdurahiman, Limitless Sky; Fatima Jaber, Stuck in the Tree; Indianna Prior, Moon Fox
Secondary Students: Liliana Belobrajdic, Flower Celebration; Hayden Best, Kinetic Connection; Isaac Filipo, Self Portrait; Madeline Sammut, Pie and Sauce
The Fisher’s Ghost Art Award 2025 total prize pool was $60,000. The exhibition is open to the public at the Campbelltown Arts Centre until Sunday 16 November, showcasing all finalist works across multiple categories. All finalist works in the exhibition are available for purchase.
The Judges :
Eddie Abd, an artist born in Lebanon, Eddie completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (painting) at the Lebanese University (2001) and a Bachelor of Digital Media at COFA, UNSW (2005).
Blair French is the CEO at Murray Art Museum in Albury, formally CEO at Carriageworks and Director, Curatorial and Digital at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Sydney. He arrived in Australia from New Zealand in 1995 and has a PhD in Art, History and Theory.
Sidney McMahon is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on collaboration and interdisciplinary practice, McMahon explores a personal queer narrative through their work, completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Southern Queensland in 2009, a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) at Sydney College of the Arts (USYD) in 2010, a Master of Art Curatorship at USYD in 2011 and a Master of Fine Arts at Sydney College of the Arts at USYD in 2015. The 2021 UTS Artist in Residence and during 2016-2018 artist in resident at Parramatta Artists Studios and awarded the 2017 Parramatta City Council Visual Arts Fellowship. In 2017 they completed a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, and Studio Voltaire, London.
McMahon completed a mentorship with French artist Camille Henrot during her Carte Blanche exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in late 2017. They were a 2015/2016 Co-Director at Firstdraft Gallery, Sydney.
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