Late last week, the SACE Board announced the names of 142 students from across the state who have had their work selected for inclusion in the prestigious 2026 SACE Art Show. We are delighted to report that one of those names – Huey Hood – belongs to a member of our 2025 Visual Arts crew.
The annual SACE Art Show is a showcase exhibition of the most successful art and design work produced by students who completed Stage 2 Visual Art/Design the previous year – the impressive array includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, costumes, designs and multimedia works.
Patrons of this year’s exhibition will have the opportunity to view Huey’s mixed media artwork entitled “Endosymbiosis”. The long, intricate and thought-provoking piece is depicted here, both in its entirety and as a detailed section; it is also accompanied below by Huey’s carefully worded practitioner’s statement.
The 2026 SACE Art Show will be staged in the Light Square Gallery of the Adelaide College of the Arts (39 Light Square, City) from March 17th through to April 10th.
We congratulate Huey, his family and his dedicated teacher, Ms. Wanda Jarvis, on this wonderful success.
‘Endosymbiosis’
“Do we really care so little about the earth upon which we live that we don’t wish to protect one of its greatest wonders from the consequences of our behaviours?” ~ Sir David Attenborough
Oceans are the lungs of the planet; they regulate the earth’s climate and produce oxygen which sustains complex ecosystems. Coral reefs are unfortunately being impacted by rising ocean temperatures, which is leading to coral bleaching. ‘Endosymbiosis’ is a mixed media artwork utilising embossed paper with watercolour, felt tip, gel pens and acrylic paint. It embodies and alludes to the end of coral reefs as we know it. It highlights the delicate nature of coral reefs and how fragile the ecosystem is.
Watching “Ocean with David Attenborough” provoked me to contemplate and reflect on the harm that humans are inflicting on the fragile marine life that exists in the ocean. This inspired me to create ‘Endosymbiosis’ to convey the harmful and terrifying outcomes of climate change. I have always been drawn to the ocean and have a strong connection to the tides. Surfing over southern Australia’s coral reefs and being completely overwhelmed by the devastation of the state’s algae bloom, I use my visual work as my voice addressing our climate crisis.
Bleaching in reefs happen when the coral expels the symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) that live in their tissues from stress factors including rising water temperatures and pollution. The stress damages the algae’s ability to produce energy therefore turning the coral white and leaving it vulnerable.
I used a fluid hot glue drawing method replicating the shapes on the reef and embossed over this using a pressurised printing press to create the underlying framework of ‘Endosymbiosis’. This textural layer creates depth and texture throughout.
I was drawn to the work of Elif Zaim. Zaim uses a wet-in-wet technique with ink and water colour to convey the contrast between natural processes and structure. I have used the wet-in-wet technique in background of the central coral spheres layered with felt tip markers that show the details and fragility of the coral species. Using vibrant colours layered with soft and muddy yellows alludes to the death of the coral affected by agricultural chemical run off into the ocean and as a reference to the muddy sea foam hue associated with South Australia’s algal bloom. The technique is free form and creates a loose variation to the artwork.
Inspired by the delicate nature of Rogan Brown’s paper laser cut artworks, I developed a series of small sketches with coloured gel pen that incorporated the fragility of Browns’ artworks. The resolved drawings can be seen in the globulus spherical water colours orbs where I have added gestural drawings of coral and reef systems. The drawings are small, intricate and detailed, possessing the same fragility that is seen in Browns’ works. I have used contrasting and analogous colours layered into these spheres to add depth.
Laura Jones paints underwater coral landscapes with vibrant contrasting colours juxtaposed to the stark blue backgrounds. The underpainting of ‘Endosymbiosis’ utilises bright watercolour hues that I chose to then muddy with yellow ochre and dry brushed white acrylic to create a haze whilst maintaining the bright colours that coral possesses. This also allowed me to dissipate the colour leading into the whiteness of the paper to reflect coral bleaching.
Adding indigo and oxide yellow felt tip markers using freeform scribbled linework allowed me to mimic the embossed layer underneath to create visual form and shadowing.
The mixed media artwork ‘Endosymbiosis’ represents our world’s struggle with climate change; it provokes and invites with its pastel tones, the climate disasters happening in the ocean.
~ Huey Hood