Nine mid-career artists from across Australia have been named as this year’s Sidney Myer Creative Fellows. Musician Lior Attar, writer Maxine Beneba Clarke, writer Ceridwen Dovey, performer Natano Fa’anana, producer Lydia Fairhall, dancer Alisdair Macindoe, visual artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, visual artist Angela Tiatia and theatre maker Emma Valente will each receive an unrestricted and tax-free grant of $160,000 over a two-year period. Recognising the exceptional talent and professional courage of individuals in the humanities, the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships are not tied to specific outcomes. Rather, they allow recipients the freedom to develop their creative practice free from financial pressures.

Lior Attar

“Courage is a word that is often bandied about, but real courage, as shown by these artists displays a fearlessness in making and producing their art,” said Andrew Myer AM, Chair of the Selection Panel. “This is important to them, but also to everyone at large. We need artists to be free to speak through their art-making and to open our eyes on issues that are not always visible particularly as we struggle to comprehend an increasingly complex and divided society.”

The national peer review panel for the 2019 Fellows also...