Lori Pensini wins the $50,000 Collie Art Prize

Lori Pensini says she simply didn’t hear her name being mentioned as the winner of the $50,000 Collie Art Prize during the announcements of winners, held on a balmy evening in the forecourt of Collie Art Gallery last weekend.

Lori says she was mentally trying to match what was being said about the winning painting with the artists’ works in the catalogue, and completely missed the name announced. “It wasn’t until my husband reached for me laughing and shouting that I knew – then I screamed!” she says. Seated on the concrete during the announcements, Lori was helped to her feet, obviously overwhelmed by the reality of winning. “I really didn’t think I would win,” she says. “I presumed the gallery rang you beforehand, but no, it was a complete surprise, and I was ill prepared. It took quite a few minutes for my heart to stop thumping so I could hear myself speak!”

Her monochromatic work, Bare Earth, is a response to enduring the driest spell on record in the South West of WA. In it, a woman holds an orphaned lamb, representative of the tenacity and resilience of women on the land and highlights the plight of farmers, often forgotten in cities far removed from their ordeal. Lori says the struggle has been all consuming on the landscape, animals and people. “It is mentally oppressive going out into the paddocks every day to give it your all, knowing it still isn’t enough to save everything in need.”

As young adults, Lori and husband Warren were based on his family’s cattle station, Wyloo in the Pilbara. They moved to Boyup Brook 23 years ago, bringing cattle from Wyloo with them. “We have a dual farming enterprise where we combine farming cattle with ecological regenerative carbon systems and the two systems benefit each other,” she says. “We are redeveloping nature belts on the tops of hills to join remnant bush pockets to create nature corridors for wildlife, and we run cattle in between. The trees draw up the runoff from the hills, holding the landscape together, making the land more productive. We use perennial grasses to increase carbon in the soil and rotate cattle in herds through the farm like they would be if they were in the wild.”

The difference in the landscape as a result of drought is saddening. She says a reasonable winter last year wasn’t enough to replenish dams and soil substructure. “There are a lot of farmers still struggling with empty dams and short on feed. The forest bleaching we experienced is really visible now a summer on, and we have noticed many trees that are still alive have been weakened by the drought and are toppling over in the wind.  We are all praying for an early break and long steady winter. I don’t think we will fully recover from the loss of mature bush canopy,” she says, having lost 300 – 400-year-old trees – marri, jarrah, blackbutt and wandoo – impossible to replace in the short term, yet their active regeneration of the land is continuous. “On our farm we have planted over 35,000 trees and shrubs over the last three years, and we still have so much more to do.” 

Lori says nature isn’t an object that sits in the background for us to play with. “I believe we have lost some of our connection to our natural environment in this fast-paced modern world, especially our food chains and our landscape which is so crucial for our physical and mental well-being. We are all custodians and we all need to do our bit and to reconnect.  Spend time in the rural landscape and take the road less travelled. If we share a lived experience, even if it is for only a weekend then we develop a deeper understanding of the rural plight. And this knowledge in turn leads to a stronger commitment to make a difference.” 

Bare Earth was one of 45 works selected for the exhibition from 444 entries received. Other finalists included Emi Ninoseki, Geoff Wake, Jordan Andreotta, Natalie Scholtz, Jennifer Cochrane, Melissa Sandy, Carly Le Cerf, Jacobus Capone and Desmond Mah. The three previous major winners of the bi-annual prize are hung in the foyer of the gallery: Brian Robinson, 2018; Mary-Lynne Stratton, 202o and Jo Darvall, 2023.

Other 2025 winners included Jessica Holliday, who won the $1,000 Pollies Packer Prize, Dominique Coiffait and Bronwyn Hill who each won a $5,000 Rotary Club of Collie Prize, which includes an exhibition at Collie Art Gallery.

Judges for 2025 were Anne Gérard-Austin, Curator of International Art at the Art Gallery of NSW, James Walker, curator, artist and educator and artist Tony Windberg. The selection panel consisted of Emma Bitstead, Associate  Curator of Historical Art at The Art Gallery of WA and artists Jo Darvall and Judy Rogers.

Collie Art Prize is on show seven days a week at Collie Art Gallery until 27 April.