Congratulations to Sam Holt on being selected as a finalist in the 2017 Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize.

Sam is a finalist in the Photography Category for his 2016 work ‘Future Past 2’.

Constructed from long forgotten and abandoned trophies Sam Holt’s large-scale sculptural installation and accompanying suite of photographs Future Past offers up a playful exploration of Western society’s inherent obsession with creating and obtaining a ‘perfect’ life. Or at the very least cultivating the image of one… (Instagram anyone?)

Pieced together from the discarded remnants of our collective childhood, Holt has abstracted and mutated each trophy, so that they are at once unrecognizable and yet also strangely familiar. Acting as a mirror which reflects back at us our own individual histories and stories, Future Past takes these abandoned tacky plastic forms, which were once cherished as symbols of our accomplishments, minor successes and participations – and creates from them a time capsule which harks back to our youth and a mindset of hopeful anticipation – a mindset often abandoned in adulthood as the pressures and realities of life come rushing in.

Reminding us of the youthful dreams and imagined futures we once harboured, Future Past
gently and subversively draws our attention to the values and ideals that have come to rule contemporary society and our obsession with security, safety, normality and the ‘status quo’.

The opening night and award announcement for the 2017 Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize will be held at 6pm on Friday 3 November at Campbelltown Arts Centre.