I've delighted to have been selected as a finalist in the 2026 Wollumbin Art Award for my work Land Lines. I'm one of 79 finalists selected from 653 entries — one of the most competitive rounds the award has seen.
The WAA is a biennial $30,000 prize run by Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, named for Wollumbin — the sacred mountain that overlooks the gallery across the Tweed Valley.
Read on for more about the award, the work, and how to see it in person.
Lane Lines, 2026
Mixed Media
73 x 73 cm
$2,000
The Wollumbin Art Award is a biennial $30,000 prize run by Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, open to artists across the Tweed, Ballina, Byron, Kyogle and Scenic Rim Shires, as well as Richmond Valley, Lismore and Gold Coast City. Now in its third edition — having launched in 2022 — it has become one of the most significant regional art prizes in Australia.
The award takes its name from Wollumbin, the sacred mountain that overlooks the gallery across the Tweed Valley. There is no set theme; artists may submit works in any medium.
Land Lines began with a view from an airplane window — the Northern Rivers from above, the working land broken into an irregular patchwork grid of crops like sugarcane, soy and macadamia.
Reclaimed cloth bound book covers, cut and arranged, became that landscape — framed within the underside of an old timber card table. Everyday objects, seen from a different perspective. Like the land from above.
The Northern Rivers have been part of my life for many years, and my family has lived here for generations. Land Lines is an artwork rooted in that connection to country.
Exhibition details
Wollumbin Art Award Finalists Exhibition
Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre
2 Mistral Road, South Murwillumbah NSW 2484
Open now — 15 November 2026
View the exhibition online
Land Lines is currently on exhibition as part of the WAA Finalists Exhibition and is available for sale via the gallery. Please contact Tweed Regional Gallery directly to enquire. Email: tweedart@tweed.nsw.gov.au Phone: 02 6670 2790
Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, Murwillumbah NSW
photo credit: Tweed Valley Drone Photography