AACTA has named artist and director Lynette Wallworth as the recipient of this year’s Byron Kennedy Award.
The award, which honours George Miller’s original filmmaking partner and Mad Max co-creator Byron Kennedy, celebrates “outstanding creative enterprise within the screen industry. It is given to an individual or organisation whose work embodies innovation, vision and the pursuit of excellence.”
Wallworth is known for her use of virtual reality and the mixing of technology with art. Her installations and films have been shown at the World Economic Forum, the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts and The Smithsonian.
Her documentary Tender received five AACTA nominations and won the AACTA Award for Best Documentary Television Program at the 4th AACTA Awards in 2014. Her most recent work, Collisions, is a VR film made with Aboriginal elder Nyarri Nyarri Morgan.
“The names of some of the previous winners of the Byron Kennedy Award count amongst my heroes, and I am humbled and amazed to be considered amongst them,” said Wallworth.
“Despite a wonderful life as an international artist forging new pathways, there is nothing more meaningful to me than being acknowledged here at home.
“I am so grateful to the jury for thinking my work was worthy of this honour, and I am thrilled to associated, in any way, with the artistry of a fearless visionary – George Miller.”
AFI | AACTA CEO Damien Trewhella said Wallworth was a global pioneer in the screen industry.
“She continues to push the boundaries of screen, using emerging technologies and visionary artistic media to engage audiences around the world in new, innovative experiences.”
Previous Byron Kennedy recipients include Jane Campion, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Animal Logic, Ivan Sen and Adam Arkapaw.
The award will be presented to Wallworth at the 6th AACTA Awards, to be held in Sydney on December 7.