The Australia Council for the Arts has today announced the recipient of the inaugural Mordant Family/Australia Council Affiliated Fellowship.

Australia Council CEO Tony Grybowski congratulated Australian photographer, video and installation artist Lynne Roberts-Goodwin. One of Australia’s leading contemporary visual artists, Lynne will be spending two months in Rome as part of the American Academy in Rome’s (AAR) Affiliated Fellowship Program, thanks to the generous support of the Mordant Family.

Central to Lynne’s work while in Rome is access to the Photographic Archive of the American Academy in Rome, in particular the Aronson collection (aerial views of Rome), to produce two video works, photographic stills and a publication. Her project engages conceptually and innovatively with aerial archival research and aerial filming of up to 1,500ft above the historic Aventine and Palatine sites (part of the Seven Hills of Rome) to produce works challenging the status of ubiquitous ground/satellite navigational aids. The work will be exhibited and an artist monograph will be produced entitled Tempo Squisito/Exquisite Time.

Simon Mordant AM, on behalf of the Mordant Family, said the response for the Fellowship’s inaugural year was overwhelming and reflected the excellent quality of Australia’s visual artists.

“Lynne is a highly regarded and established landscape visual artist and her chosen project is a perfect fit for a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. Catriona and I are delighted to support her opportunity to further engage with the international artistic community and build upon her networks at the extraordinary American Academy,” Mr Mordant said.

Lynne Roberts-Goodwin said she was thrilled to receive the inaugural Mordant Family/Australia Council Affiliated Fellowship.

“I am so honoured and grateful beyond words to have been awarded the fellowship to the American Academy in Rome – a challenging, exciting and unique experience that I’m sure will bring to my creative practice and studio project, Tempo Squisito, cultural insights, collaborative stimulation and engagement with an exciting and esteemed international peer group,” Lynne said.

“The Mordant family is to be applauded for their passion and continued significant cultural contributions and creative support to artists and arts organisations nationally and internationally.”

“We are pleased to inaugurate this fellowship with an Australian photographer of the quality of Lynne,” Mark Robbins, President of the American Academy in Rome said.

“As with all scholars and artists at the Academy, we look forward to her contribution to the community’s intellectual and creative life.”

Lynne Roberts-Goodwin is also the recipient of several prestigious awards such as The Basil and Muriel Hooper Travelling Art Scholarship and Dyason Bequest Grant, Art Gallery of New South Wales; Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award and The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award.

Her work is held in national collections such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, ARTBANK and the National Gallery of Victoria, influencing a generation of emerging nature and the landscape artists. The artist’s work is represented in Australia by Kronenberg Wright Artists Projects, Sydney and in Europe by Nuova Galleria MORONE, Milan, Italy.

Running annually for three years, expressions of interest from established visual artists for the 2018 Mordant Family/Australia Council Affiliated Fellowship will open later this year. Applicants are encouraged to review the criteria on the Australia Council’s website and must have a significant record of exhibitions in public institutions and galleries.

Established in 1894, the American Academy in Rome is the oldest American overseas centre for independent study and advanced research in the arts and humanities. Through the Affiliated Fellowship Program, artists and scholars from all over have the opportunity to pursue their work in an inspiring, collaborative and supportive environment, with accommodation and studio space provided in the AAR’s historic building on the Janiculum Hill.

The Australia Council is committed to growing the private, public and philanthropic funds available to support the arts. The Mordant Family/Australia Council Affiliated Fellowship leverages the Council’s expertise and highlights how public and private partnerships can deliver transformational programs and experiences that enrich artists and the community at large.

There are a number of opportunities for philanthropic foundations, corporations and individual donors to partner with the Australia Council for the Arts.