Mossenson Galleries congratulates Shane Pickett,Josie Kunoth Petyarre & Dinni Kunoth Kemarre on their selection in the 2008 WA Indigenous Art Awards.

Mossenson Galleries congratulates Josie Kunoth Petyarre, Dinni Kunoth Kemarre and Shane Pickett on their selection in the 2008 Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards which will be held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 1 November 2008 - 11 January 2009.

Only sixteen finalists were selected for this prestigious exhibition, which brings together some of Australia's leading Indigenous artists. Josie, Dinni and Shane will be in the running to receive the $50,000 first prize, which is the most generous Indigenous art prize in Australia.

The selection caps off a remarkable eighteen months for the artists. In 2008 Josie Kunoth Petyarre and Dinni Kunoth Kemarre are the only artists to have been selected in Australia's three premier Indigenous art awards - the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, the Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Awards and the WA Indigenous Art Awards.

Moreover, Josie and Dinni were the only Indigenous artists invited to participate in the inaugural Basil Sellers Art Prize at the University of Melbourne, along with being selected in the Togart Art Award, the Alice Prize and the Blake Prize. Their works have been acquired by Artbank, the National Museum and the Berndt Museum of Anthropology.

In 2007, Shane Pickett was one of 31 artists selected for Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Triennial. He is a previous winner of the Sunshine Coast Art Award, the Joondalup Invitation Art Award, the Drawing Together Art Award and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Art Award. He is a 9 time finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. In 2008 he completed a major commission for the foyer of the Western Australian District Court.

In 2008 he has held successful solo exhibitions in Perth and Darwin and Mossenson Galleries are please to announce the launch of Shane's latest solo exhibition 'Art and Healing' which will run concurrently to the WA Indigenous Art Awards at our Collingwood gallery.