Australia’s most prestigious award for small-scale sculpture, the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize is the first national acquisitive prize for original works up to 80cm in size. At a ceremony held at the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, Sydney, Gartside was awarded the $25,000 prize for #19, a piece in her ongoing series Bunnies in Love, Lust and Longing, which will be acquired for the Council’s permanent public collection.

After years of functioning as protection against impropriety and cold weather, the second-hand gloves bring to life tender interactions, and moments with oneself, through the form of anthropomorphised rabbits.

Based in Melbourne, Gartside is a sculptor and installation artist working with found fabrics, clothing and ephemera to articulate experiences and sensations of longing, tenderness, care, desire and fury. Prior to her visual art training, Gartside worked as a costume-maker and dresser. Both deeply personal and fiercely communal, her works engage fundamental experiences and emotions endemic to our human condition.

Commenting on the work, judge Liz Nowell said “Bunnies in Love Lost and Longing #19 by Hannah Gartside captivated the judges with its unexpected small scale and confident rendering of form. The use of repurposed gloves imbues the sculpture with a sense of nostalgia and everyday intimacy, evoking tenderness and care. Despite its modest size, the work drew us in with its emotional depth, creating a powerful sense of connection and vulnerability.”

On winning the award, Hannah Gartside said: “I am honoured and humbled to have my work win the 2024 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. I use discarded, worn materials because I believe in their inherent worth and value. These materials act as portals for storytelling, and receptive vessels for emotional expression. At times in my life I have felt devalued or discarded, and I made this work during one of those times. Have you ever heard the phrase, “the poem knows things the poet doesn’t”? Well this sculpture showed me what I needed: aloneness, rest, introspection, and quietude. Having this personal work acknowledged in this way is deeply meaningful. I have been working as an artist since I graduated from art school in 2016, and this is my first major prize win, eight years on.”