Manjimup-born artist Holly Booth named one of the winners of the Noongar Seasons exhibition prize

Manjimup-born Perth-based artist Holly Booth was named as one of the six lucky artists to have their works chosen feature on banners in the Manjimup town centre as a nod to the town’s cultural heritage. Booth, a barista in Bibra Lake, submitted two works to Manjimup Art Gallery’s latest exhibition, titled Noongar Seasons - Nature in Transition, Manjin Reeds and the prize winner and future banner work Seasons at Windy Harbour (Djeran). Booth noted the reaction to the exhibition opening and the attendees’ reaction to the artworks on display. “I feel like everyone was happy during the whole exhibition and when you walked in the door, everyone was so pleased with everything,” she said. “I want everyone to come to the exhibition, because I love all the works so much and it’s gorgeous.” She said she was scared to submit her works to the exhibition initially, noting her art practice being a hobby rather than a profession like other artists who submitted work “Because you’re going up a lot of people, and I don’t think of myself as an artist, I just paint for fun.” “So I thought “Oh, there are real professionals entering into this.” According to Booth, the award-winning work was a work she had intentions of creating for the exhibition from the beginning. “I knew I wanted to do (Seasons at Windy Harbour) and I put a lot of time and effort into that one as soon as I read the briefing and the different seasons,” she said. “I remember seeing an artwork that inspired the work, where it was like a map, and I thought why not do the Windy Harbour coastline in a map-like manner.” The accompanying piece Manjin Reeds was a work where she felt she had more difficulty in finding inspiration, deciding to do the reeds in associating them with Manjimup. “I wasn’t too sure on what to do for my second one, and then I started thinking about Manjimup and what had to do with Manjimup,” she said “And then I thought about the reeds, the reeds are what Manjimup are named after.” She said the reality of having her work chosen was yet to “sink in” and was unsure of what to create in the near future. “I think when I see it, it’ll sink in more, as now it’s just talked about,” Booth said. “Everyone’s like ‘What’s your next one?’ and I don’t know yet, I’ve got plans for what I want to paint but nothing in motion yet.”