We are delighted to share that Tam Timko has been selected as the recipient of the SALA Award at the 2024 Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition for their work, Can You Hear Them.

Selected by an independent panel of industry leaders, the award is valued at $1000; including $530 cash, and a premium registration for this year’s Festival. 

Congratulations Tam! 

Tam Timko is an emerging artist based in South Australia who specialises in digital illustration and ceramics; they have also created works in glass, installation, sound, and sculpture. In their art practice, Tam has a particular interest in portraying themes of horror, terror, and queer identities, and they are often inspired by books, films, and general pop culture.

Instagram: @lotsa_heart_art

Can You Hear Them draws on ideas of the drain as a representation of the void and a source of thalassophobia – the fear of deep bodies of water, terror, and the unknown. The work is influenced by horror stories and films, in particular Stephen King’s It and works by Japanese horror manga artist Junji Ito, alongside their own fear of drains and deep, dark spaces.

The installation consists of over twenty dark ceramic forms accompanied by an eerie audio component. The title of the work refers to the eldritch entity (or entities) that may reside within these portals, the sounds of which can be heard reverberating through the work. If you look down into these pockets of the abyss, notice that some contain water, and others are dry. All are dark as the abyss. It is waiting. They are somewhere, looking back at you. Tam invites viewers to make up their own mind, as they ask, “can you hear them?”