Synopsis

Filmed during the inaugural year of the Ramsay Art Prize, Making a Mark is a chronicle of creative trailblazing, as a selection of finalists, all aged under 40, vie for this important $100,000 prize.

In a story that spans the globe from Europe to outback Australia, the film explores one of the most personally challenging and financially tenuous of vocations, and asks what it takes to live and work in the competitive world of the visual arts.

Winning can give a career an enormous boost, but this film is not just about the winner or even the competition: it is about survival as a cutting edge artist in today’s world. The film is about art but it is also about personal resilience and the drive to express personal visions through a breathtaking range of physical media, some of which may seem superficially familiar, some undreamt of.

The film emerges as a fascinating and emotionally intense composite story detailing multiple experiences of personal sacrifice, personal aspiration and inspiration. Win or lose, all of the artists are making their own distinctive mark as they proceed step by step along a life-long road of creative commitment.

Featuring: Alexie Glass-Kantor, Baden Pailthorpe, Celeste Chandler, Dr Gaye Sculthorpe, James Tylor, Jason Phu, Justine Varga, Khadim Ali, Leigh Robb, Natalya Hughes, Nell, Nick Mitzevich, Owen Leong, Peter Johnson, Ralph Hobbs, Rebecca Selleck, Rhana Devenport, Sarah Contos, Tony Albert, Tracey Moffatt, Ursula Sullivan and Vincent Namatjira

Trailer