Taranaki Foundation's EMERGENCE Award for Young Taranaki Artists 2022

Fifty-seven aspiring artists entered Percy Thomson Gallery’s premier art competition for young and emerging Taranaki artists. The Emergence Award for Young Taranaki Artists 2022 is generously supported by the Taranaki Foundation, through the Taranaki Hauora Fund. The fund was established in 2018 in memory of Leon Squire, son of Kelvin and Carolyn Squire. Creativity is at the heart of the fund, with flexibility to support the hauora (well-being) of rangatahi (young people). 

Taranaki artist Haoro Hond exhibits his latest artwork 'Tōku reo Tōku ohooho' in Gallery 2. Haoro is inspired by the generosity of the Squire family, the memory of Leon and believes in the funds ongoing purpose to encourage young creatives in our community. As a result, this work called ‘Tōku reo Tōku ohooho’ was born. 

EMERGENCE 2022 aims to empower and encourage the creative talents of young, aspiring and emerging artists from Taranaki, whilst providing a showcase for their works.

The exhibition runs from 29 July to 21 August 2022.

The Gala Opening event takes place on Friday 29 July, 6pm with Guest speaker Josh Hickford, CEO Taranaki Foundation.

There are several categories with prizes, including Painting, 2D Non-Painting media, Toi Maori, 3D, Photography and Secondary School level awards. This year there is also a Judges Encouragement Award and Director's Choice.

A People’s Choice Award will be decided at the end of the exhibition. You can vote onsite at Percy Thomson Gallery.

Percy Thomson Gallery Director Laura Campbell says it’s important to give young artists the platform to present their work, “Emergence is all about providing a rare experience for our young people to show their abilities” she says. “It allows young artists to see their work in a public gallery, and grow their creative confidence”.

Taranaki Foundation Chief Executive, Josh Hickford, says the exhibition provides a great platform for budding young artists to show their work. “We have a huge pool of creative talent in Taranaki and it is great to support the awards which provide an opportunity to showcase these young emerging artists.”

Emergence is a bi-annual event and was first held in 2018.

There are several cash prizes for different Categories, with the Supreme Winner receiving $2000, a special trophy created by Haoro Hond and a solo exhibition at Percy Thomson Gallery in 2024. 

The judges for 2022 were Justin Jade Morgan (Puke Ariki) and Simon Gennard (Govett-Brewster).

To enter EMERGENCE the young artist must be born in Taranaki, live in Taranaki, or have attended secondary school in Taranaki and be aged 13 to 26 years on July 8, 2022