Art Prize

Art Prize team

• Sandra Murray

  The City is pleased to appoint Sandra Murray as the City of Rockingham Art Prize Curator for 2026.

  Sandra is a leading independent curator, arts consultant and artist mentor. She has a depth of experience in working with artists, collections, and exhibitions, including directing and curating for art and museum institutions in WA and NSW, and has worked in the public, corporate, not-for-profit, and private sectors. She was the inaugural curator for the University of Western Australia’s Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in Perth where she managed a collection of over 3,000 artworks of paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture.

  Sandra is the Artistic Director/Lead Curator for Sculpture West,  manages the Bankwest Art Collection, and has project managed and curated over 65 exhibitions. She has a passion for contemporary Australian art and holds a BA Honours in Art History and Theory, and a Master of Philosophy. 

  Sandra is acknowledged as a passionate and proficient arts expert, an on-the-ground curator engaged in the art world, with a strong rapport with artists and respectful working relationships with arts industry professionals. 

• Following the close of entries, the independent Selection Panel will meet to select finalists from the submitted artworks.

  The Selection Panel for 2026 are:

  David Attwood is an artist based in Boorloo Perth. He exhibits his work widely throughout Australia and internationally. Attwood was a finalist in the prestigious 2025 Ramsay Art Prize, Art Gallery of South Australia, and winner of the 2025 Roger Pailhas Prize, Art-o-rama Art Fair, Marseille, France. Attwood holds a PhD from Curtin University, and completed the SOMA Summer arts program, SOMA, Mexico City in 2019. His work is held in Australian public and private collections, including the Art Gallery of Western Australia and Artbank. Reviews and profiles of Attwood’s work have featured in Australian publications including Art Collector, Art Monthly, Artlink, Un Magazine, MeMo Review, and Dispatch Review.

  Barbara Bolt is a Professorial Fellow at, and former Director of, The Victorian College of the Arts at The University of Melbourne. She is a Perth based artist and art theorist and holds a PhD from Murdoch University. Her research addresses the dialogue between theory and practice and between digital and analogue painting. Her publications include the monographs Art Beyond Representation and Heidegger Reframed. Bolt has been a finalist in the Doug Moran Portrait Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award, The Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing and the Swan Hill Print and Drawing Prize. Her works are held in collections including Artbank, the University of Western Australia and Curtin University.

  Noelene Regan is a Noongar artist and arts worker based in Boorloo, descended from the Wardandi, Bibbulmun and Whadjuk peoples. Her practice is grounded in cultural storytelling, community connection and truth-telling. Alongside her creative work, Regan is an experienced arts administrator and currently works as an Arts and Culture Development Coordinator. Her recent projects include coordination of Place Names Melville, and she now serves as the Creative Learning Producer for Museums and Local History at Yagan Mia, Wireless Hill. Regan holds a Diploma of Visual Arts and a Graduate Certificate in Management, and continues to support community artists through facilitation, cultural engagement and creative leadership.

• The independent judges will select the winning artworks for each prize category. Check back later for the announcement of the judges.