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Tia Madden received the 2025 Tim Olsen Drawing Prize for their workÌýSome Sort of Notation.Ìý

The judges commented, "Madden’s artwork is a compelling stand out for its use of drawing as a tool to explore fundamental aspects of the human experience. The work is suggestive of narrative, dialogue, and elemental mark-making, and variously evokes musical notation, written language, and figurative drawing. The interplay of two-dimensional marks, sculptural forms, shadows, and composition creates a compelling and multidimensional experience.

The work oscillates between legibility and illegibility, holding the viewer’s attention as meaning seems to be both revealed and concealed. With each small detail holding equal weight to the overall composition, it provokes fundamental human (and non-human) questions about the search for meaning and communication through aesthetic form."

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Photograph: Anna Kucera

Trinity Johnson was highly commended for their workÌýDreaming of this.Ìý

The judges commented, "Johnson’s artwork is highly commended for its layered and thoughtful exploration of identity, using stitching, textiles, and objects to create a compelling material presence. Drawing from decolonial and feminist frameworks as well as lived experience, the work integrates line work with photographic, sculptural, and screenprint techniques, reflecting on the complex layers of selfhood. With strong tonal sensibility, the work is both aesthetically refined and critically oriented, anchoring its conceptual depth in a playful yet deeply considered execution."

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Photograph: Anna Kucera

Mei Lin Meyers was highly commended for their workÌý¸é³ó¾±³ú´Ç³¾±ð.Ìý

The judges commented, "Meyers’ artwork is highly commended for its courageous and inventive use of everyday materials, reimagining their possibilities through playful and nuanced experimentation. The work has a strong conceptual foundation, grounded in lived experience, exploring rhizomatic and relational forms of sense-making. The work combines a sensitivity to drawing with a tactile engagement with materials and objects, resulting in a composition that is both surprising and well executed."

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Photograph: Anna Kucera