Morag Stokes with her artwork, OSTINATO.
Using condoms to create art, a Waikanae artist has won herself a highly commended award in the Parkin Drawing Prize.
Morag Stokes said she was thrilled to have won the commendation, and the $500 prize, but it came as quite a surprise as she had been a finalist six times and had “become very accustomed to not winning anything”.
The artwork she entered was called OSTINATO and was made with Chinese ink and graphite on a synthetic paper called Yupo. The tools she used were ribbed condoms, inflated to different degrees.
The inspiration for this piece came from Stokes’ interest in the materiality of art and “how materials behave when given a chance to express themselves”.
“I’ve discovered that the marks I can make with variously inflated ribbed condoms are quite extraordinary when I work on a very smooth surface, so my Parkin piece is an exploration of that.”
