ArtRage Medallion goes to Tegan Mateman for painting of ghost-town 'loneliness'

The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) - which has run the annual ArtRage initiative for 29 years - awarded the Hobart-based painter the honour for her piece Waddamana.

The work, a triptych of three paintings, depicts the architectural "loneliness" Mateman witnessed in two of Tasmania's ghost towns: the former hydro-hamlet of Waddamana and the now-bust mining village of Grassy on King Island.

Waddamana is touring across the state - currently stopped at Salamanca Place in Hobart - for the ArtRage exhibition, the initiative's corresponding show featuring works from students at Tasmanian high schools and colleges.

On Wednesday, the QVMAG Arts Foundation - which launched the Medallion in 2020 to award the exhibition's "best work" - presented Mateman with the accolade which features a limited-edition artwork donated by Tasmanian artist and former Glover Prize winner Michael McWilliams.

"I'm very shocked and honoured; I wasn't expecting it," Mateman said.

On three canvases, Mateman's Waddamana renders a trio of distinct images which she said were inspired, somewhat, by the work of Queenstown artist Raymond Arnold.

In the first a Federation-style cottage stands under the dark tones of the sky, slightly rotting as grass overtakes its front garden; while in the second, two circuit towers cut lonely figures in the landscape; and in the third, furniture sits dirty and unused in a peeling living room.

Mateman was inspired to paint the pieces when she visited Waddamana - which means 'noisy water' in the language of Tasmanian Aboriginal people, and was one of Tasmania's first power stations - with her father and found it full of "sadness".

"[This piece shows] great insight from a young person about the lives and time the people of Waddamana lived in," said Brian Hartnett, the chair of QVMAG Arts Foundation.

"Tegan helps us to understand what that life may have been like. I think that's really commendable.

"She's got great maturity of vision and we look forward to seeing more work from her in the future as she continues to develop."