Digital Catalogue: 2024 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award
Nicholas Hubicki
b. 1979 Melbourne VIC, lives Melbourne VIC
Vitichiton (The Last of the Forests), 2023
inkjet print on archival rag
edition 4 + 2 artist’s proof
Image courtesy of the artist © Nicholas Hubicki
Artist Statement
Vitichiton is a plant that does not exist; it is entirely constructed in the studio, both manually and digitally. This specimen represents a study of a possible future botanical form in the age of climate crisis.
While this work is fictional, it depicts nature producing new forms, structures and reproduction methods in order for its continued survival. The ‘last of the forests’ reflects deforestation by both logging and fire. The work is formally influenced by botanical illustration and 19th century dioramas, and studio photographic practices.
About the Artist
Nicholas Hubicki is a lens-based artist from Naarm/Melbourne. His current work, often research based, focuses on the relationship to natural and ‘constructed’ worlds.
Hubicki was the 2023 recipient of the State Library of Victoria’s Tate Adams Fellowship, and winner of the 2022 Pool Collective Grant. His work was included in Speculative Horizons at Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait City 2023, and Forum 50: Blame the Algorithm at the Munich State Museum, Germany. He was also a finalist in the 2023 Bowness Photography Prize (Museum of Australian Photography) and his work has also appeared in Der Greif, Musée Magazine and Phases Magazine.
Ali Tahayori
Untitled 39, from the series Archive of Longing
Chris Barry
Tarna Driffen, Rosalyn Boko, Leonard Driffen and Princess, Larapinta Town Camp, Alice Springs, from the series CRUISING: A Journey into Culture (2015-present)
Kellie O'Dempsey
She Does (Bathroom Scene and amber glass)