Year twelve Rossmoyne Senior Highschool student Mona Pforr won an Outside the Frame excellence award for her thought-provoking art piece “Through Our Eyes”.
Her animal-rights inspired piece featured in an exhibition at Armadale District Hall along with 40 other works by year 11 and 12 students, from 11 different high schools.
Ms Pforr says her winning piece is meant to challenge viewers to explore their attitudes as a potential consumer of meat produced by intensive livestock farming.
“This year’s overall theme for my class was ‘Bioethics’ and as a sub-theme I chose ‘Animal rights’ as this has been an issue that I have been quite interested in,” Ms Pforr said.
“It always shocks me when I hear how inhumanely animals, mostly in the meat industries, are sometimes treated.
“By triggering a strong emotional response, art is a powerful tool to influence people’s opinions on a wide range of issues.”
Her piece shows the four eye shapes of a pig, a human, a cow and a chicken.
“The differences between these eyes are subtle, which helps to convey the message of my written code that we are not so different from each other after all,” she said.
“My artwork is framed by naked human figures which convey emotions of sorrow and pain through their body language.
“Sketches of animals shown carefree and content are also included to create a sharp contrast to the sorrowful human figures.
Ms Pforr says the award was a nice surprise during the stresses of year 12 life.
“It was really nice to see that others, outside my family, also appreciate my work.
“Art allows me to relax and take a break from the stress in my daily life, which is particularly important at the moment because I am in Year 12 and school is pretty intense.”
Mayor Ruth Butterfield, who presented the awards, said recognition encourages creativity, interpretation and critical thinking.
“Art speaks to us in ways that enhances our lives. The City continues to support arts programs and partnerships, recognising not only the connections the community makes with art, but also for what art teaches us about the world we live in,” she said.
