2026 Judges

Chief Judge

Jonathan McBurnie
Director
Queen Victoria Museum and Gallery (Launceston)

Jonathan McBurnie is an artist, writer and curator who has been deeply involved in Queensland visual arts his entire life. Recently taking on the directorship of Launceston’s Queen Victoria Museum and Gallery, Jonathan deftly balances the dark arts of local government with punchy, accessible programming.

Jonathan’s work is held in a number of public and private collections, and his second book (co-written with Adam Geczy) will be released in June through University Press of Mississippi. Jonathan holds a PhD from the University of Sydney and a BFA (hons) from Queensland College of Art.

Finalist Judges - Main Competition

Christine Clark
Director, Curatorial and Collections
Museum of Brisbane

Christine has worked in curatorial and management roles at various institutions, including National Portrait Gallery, Australian National University and Queensland Art Gallery prior to her appointment at Museum of Brisbane.

While at the National Portrait Gallery she was part of the collaborative team that implemented the National Photographic Portrait Prize, Digital Portrait Award and the Darling Portrait Prize. Christine has curated numerous projects emphasising cross-cultural intersections and retelling national and shared histories, including those that have toured nationally.

Aunty Bridget Garay

Bridget Garay (Kemer Kemer Meriam Natiion) has worked for over four decades with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia with a particular emphasis on arts business, community enterprise and leadership. She is currently Chair of the Brisbane Festival Indigenous Advisroy Group.

Finalist Judges - Next Gen

Sally Molloy
Lecturer (Visual Art)
Queensland College of Art and Design

Meanjin/Brisbane based artist, writer, and educator Sally Molloy’s practice explores colonial pasts and presents as they relate to her everyday life through an open-ended engagement with Australian landscape painting history, the backyard, and popular culture. This framework provides a sweaty context for critique, loaded with the potential for meaning making, affect, and contemplation. Sally works with painting, collage, sculpture, sound, and poetry often challenging the implied hierarchy of media with her strategically naïve aesthetic, humour, and enthusiasm for play. Sally lectures in Painting at the Queensland College of Art and Design, her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and she has contributed to large-scale public artworks in South-East and Regional Queensland.

Kezia Geddes
Collections Manager
Ipwich Art Gallery

Kezia Geddes is Collection Manager at Ipswich Art Gallery and former Curator of Lismore Regional Gallery, where she led the exhibition program for more than a decade. Grounded in regional culture and contemporary discourse, her projects range from Protest Songs: Artful Actions and Not Quite Square to exhibitions with Max Dupain and Jumaadi. An Artspace Regional Curatorial Exchange recipient, she champions local artists and strengthens institutional collections.

Chief Judge

Jonathan McBurnieDirectorQueen Victoria Museum and Gallery (Launceston)