The West Australian Pulse 2024: Ten must-see works at this year’s exhibition of WA’s top visual arts graduates

What makes young people tick? What ticks them off, and what makes them go ‘ick’? How do they feel about themselves and, more worryingly, what do they think of us? How do they feel about the world about them? Some of those questions are answered, or at least interpreted, at the 33rd survey of Year 12 visual arts graduates, now known as The West Australian Pulse exhibition at the Art Gallery of WA. Sixty stunning art works will be on display at the gallery from April 6 to October 6, each offering unique insights into the class of 2023. With help from AGWA associate curator of contemporary art Bahar Sayed, The West Australian got a preview of the exhibition to identify 10 must-see works. Shouts-out go to Katrina Ailakis from St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School and Heidi Wong from Applecross Senior High School for their stunning textile and sculptural works, which won’t be done justice in newsprint. Go check them out for yourself and be richly rewarded. ANNIKA CARLETON (Perth Modern School) You’re so vanitas Barbie pink and the Vanitas still life movement of the 16th and 17th centuries clash in this strident challenge to stereotypical perceptions of teenage girls as preening ingenues. Carleton pairs traditional symbols, such as mirrors, flowers and a skull, with modern elements, including a camera, headphones and birth control pills to subvert the dark style of the genre. Sayed noted that Pulse 2024 features more paintings, as opposed to more expensive media — a symptom of the cost-of-living crisis? A large lurid canvas, you’re so vanitas is impossible to miss and offers any keen-eyed young viewer a Feminism 101 reading list. BRIDE LE CORNU (St Stephen’s School) Identity Fare “The land of no worries” is skewered in this brilliant, tongue-in-cheek installation using ceramics and audio. Advance Australia Fair plays as gallery attendees peruse an urn painted with lyrics of the national anthem surrounded with plates feauturing Aussie icons, such as a VB stubbie (“to make yourself feel better)” and a meat pie (“looks golden, usually flaky”). “Identity Fare explores Australia’s tendency to trivialise deep-rooted societal issues, highlighting our cultural emptiness and simplified self-perceptions,” Le Cornu writes in her artist statement. Truth hurts. While Pulse often finds young artists examining their heritage, it’s rare to find someone from a European, or white background taking a fair dinkum dive into their cultural identity. GRACE SPUTORE (Sacred Heart College) Your Saving Grace The real-life international movement known as The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster inspired this satirical work. Sputore dons the colander of the church and borrows the composition of a stained-glass window to challenge the “ethereal presentation of religious figures” in the hope of “sparking a dialogue on the complexities of faith and self-expression”. Speaking of complexities, Your Saving Grace looks like a painting from a distance but closer inspection reveals the work is hand and machine embroidered with lino print. This work displays remarkable skill and is a vibrant highlight of Pulse 2024. COCO BOSHARD (John XXIII College) Disconnect While this year’s exhibition finds the students exploring familiar themes of identity (race, gender, sexuality, religion) and wider societal issues, Sayed says the creeping, and occasionally creepy, influence of artificial intelligence has entered the chat. Coco Boshard’s pencil on paper work most directly addresses the “risk of being consumed by the digital age” in his reappropriation of Grant Wood’s famous 1930 work American Gothic. Nearly a century on, the carpenter gothic-style house is engulfed in fire to signify the destructive nature of our addiction to technology. Meanwhile, the stern couple of the original have transformed into an android and a bloke clutching a plug, not a pitchfork. How many of these talented artists will have their careers stolen by AI? ANIELA COCKERILL (St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls) Stress Ball Lots of parents will emphasise with the subject of this eye-catching graphite and coloured pencil on rag paper two-parter in which Cockerill pays tribute to her father’s ability to handle stress. “After enduring a demanding workday, he is able to leave frustrations behind, refusing to carry them home,” she writes, adding that she hopes to one day to mirror her dad’s skill at dealing with anxiety. With monochromatic treatment inspired by French street artist MTO, Stress Ball is a two-parter and a work to which we can all relate. RUE LEASK-COPEMAN (Frederick Irwin Anglican School) The Offering This painting features a gargantuan budgie — what’s not to love? Of course, as with all Pulse works, beyond the big bird lurks a deeper meaning. In this case, The Offering reflects on our almost religious devotion to our fur babies and feathered friends. “Why do humans keep pets,” Leask-Copeman asks. “It seems counter-intuitive to devote yourself to a creature without receiving a benefit from doing so. “It is an inherently human trait to want to belong to something bigger than yourself … If you think about it, the bond between humans and pets is similar to the bond between humans and religions.” Hard to argue with that and I, for one, welcome our new chirpy overlords. EMILY SIM (Hillside Christian College) Reading, writing, ‘rithmetic, ranting, ruination… “HELP ME,” is scratched into the underside of an old school desk all too familiar to many of us. This might provoke a chuckle from those for graduation day is a distant memory, but for Sim and her classmates it is an all-too-current commentary on a school system that can do as much harm as good. “Externally, students present themselves confidently and flawlessly to teachers and assessors, concealing internal struggles and psychological breakdown,” she writes. Let’s hope Sim got permission for this installation before she began scratching away at the desk. Otherwise, report to the principal’s office! SACHI ELLIOTT (Perth Modern School) And the Equilibrium Fractured The Matrix meets Australian painter Jeffrey Smart in this oil painting exploring the tension between chaos and control, the desire for order amid the inevitable disorder of life. Like many of the artists at Pulse 2024, Elliott displays incredible technique and talent as a painter – even if the work is blatant in its stylistic inspiration. Sayed explained that the art works are not judged for originality, rather creativity, use of materials and communication of ideas are deemed most important. Either way, And the Equilibrium Fractured is a skilfully composed work that rewards a lingering inspection … wait, are all the traffic lights red? MAEDOT FASIL (John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School) Contrasting Identities Born in Australia to Ethiopian migrant parents, Maedot Fasil balances her heritage with an appetite for Western experiences – what she describes as a “clash of worldly desires and spirituality”. In her oil on board diptych Contrasting Identities, she depicts herself in dark sunnies driving at night, presumably to a club or party, while another version of herself in traditional garb reaches over to take the wheel and steer her away from such “temptations”. The second part shows her brushing off judgement from the Ethiopian community, who are far smaller than her in the painting to highlight the insignificance of their criticism. SOPHIE PRISGROVE (Corpus Christi College) Think Inside the Box This deceptively simple polymer paint on board work looks at how traditional schooling fails to meet the needs of neurodivergent students. “As a young person with autism,” Prisgrove writes, “I struggled with the education system’s conservative approach, feeling out of place and unable to keep pace.” Think Inside the Box portrays neurodivergent thinking as “beautiful and boundless” in contrast to the constraints of the cube, which is rendered in a bright red that pops against the lush greens of the trees. This is one of many highlights at Pulse 2024 that need to be seen “in the flesh” for the colours and textures to be fully appreciated. The West Australian Pulse 2024 is at the Art Gallery of WA from April 6 to October 6.