Otago Polytechnic lecturer Marion Wassenaar has won the Estuary Art and Ecology Prize, worth $5000, the first national prize she has claimed.
Wassenaar, originally from South Auckland, was named the winner last weekend in Auckland after being one of 19 finalists.
She travelled to the exhibition opening and said she was "super-thrilled" to hear her name called out as the winner.
The Estuary Art and Ecology Prize is the only contemporary art prize in New Zealand with ecology at its core.
Artists were asked to research and respond to the Tamaki Estuary in South Auckland, highlighting the ecological value of the waterway and encouraging action against its pollution.
Wassenaar’s work used a book she found at a Princes St op-shop.
She turns objects into carbon by sealing them in a metal container which has small holes to allow gases to escape but excludes oxygen, and heats them for a long time in a wood burner. Among other objects, her work included a charcoal water filter made from the book’s remains.
