Spotlight on our 2024 Grant Recipients The Boris Property emerging artist award went to multidisciplinary artist Lesley Andersen. Lesley works in both screen printing and abstract painting and brings technical precision and intuitive exploration together. Since graduating from CIT in 2022 with a Diploma of Visual Art, her journey has been all about experimentation, growth, and community. With support from the Boris Award and CAPO, Lesley joined Megalo Print Studio and become an active member of Print Club—a space for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and creative expansion. Lesley will use her award towards a project encompassing a screen-printed edition of abstract works on paper highlighting the notable architecture and culturally significant design of Canberra. Our 2025 grants open soon. Stay tuned for details or sign up to our mailing list to be the first to know. https://www.capitalartspatronsorganisation.org/newsletter-sign-up (fb)

Spotlight on our 2024 Grant Recipients This year, CAPO supported Sophie Constable to journey to Aotearoa New Zealand for the When You Call My Name project—an innovative art initiative that honours 209 civilians of Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, and Thai heritage who died during WWII internment in Australia. The project pairs artists with stories of internees—from newborns to elders—and invites them to create powerful artworks that remember each person by name. With CAPO’s support, they were able to uncover previously unpublished letters and photos of the internees, stimulate new artistic collaborations and begin planning the commemorative artworks. From digital collages and paper crochet to poetry and ngatu (tapa cloth), over ten new works were created—each telling a deeply human story of resilience, identity, and loss. The first exhibition is planned for ANU's Immersia festival in Canberra in September 2025, then Perth, Brisbane and Cowra. Sophie received one of the allinsure Emerging Artist Awards. 📸 Pictures: - Meeting with Elizabeth Taufa, Aniselina Nishi, Sophie Constable and Ebonie Fifita to discuss ngatu works, and Aniselina Nishi at work on her ngatu work honouring her great-grandfather Kumazo Nishi. - Sophie Constable's digital collage for the Minami family. Seichiro Minami was interned apart from his pregnant wife Kiyomi in NZ. Seiichiro probably would have seen his first child Hiroshi for the first time when he was 1 years old, when his family was reunited to be sent to Australia on a plane. The plane crashed and all of the Minami family died in the crash. - Adam Aitken's poetry for Aun Apilbalsree, a Thai student who became stuck in NZ after Japan invaded Thailand and who died in a plane crash transporting him and other internees from NZ to Australia in 1943 Find out more about the project: https://mayu.com.au/WhenYouCallMyName/ (fb)