Nothing and Everything That is Near Peripheral 1 joins several winning artworks in the history of the Invitation Art Prize that respond to the site of the shopping centre as an exhibition space. Aligning the prize’s site context and her interest in material language and history, Teelah George considered the idea of the shopping complex as the ‘gallery’ and the ‘studio’. These spaces both present a particular set of circumstances and ideas and have inherent qualities, frameworks, and connotations that informed George’s subsequent material language and approach.

Working with materials including a found concrete paver and aluminium foil, a commonly produced material yet fragile and ephemeral product, George was interested in subverting ideas of value, archiving and familiarity, presenting the viewer with alternative ways to see and think about the things that are peripheral.

Winner of the 2014 Invitation Art Prize