A powerful mix of art, science and environmental storytelling is on show at the South Australian Museum, with winners of the 2026 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize now officially announced.
Taking out the top honour in the Open category is Adelaide artist Deb McKay, whose striking porcelain work The Ghosts of our Coastal Water has been awarded the $30,000 prize. The piece is a reflection on South Australia’s ongoing coastal algal bloom and the devastating impact it has had on marine life across the state.
Deb’s work captures the aftermath of environmental collapse through delicate, ghost-like forms that speak to loss and fragility in the natural world. It’s a deeply personal response to what she witnessed firsthand along the Fleurieu Peninsula, where the effects of the bloom were impossible to ignore.
“I was on a family holiday to the Fleurieu Peninsula last Easter with my children and grandchildren,” Deb said. “And we saw how the wildlife had changed. I knew what I had to do (to create the artwork). We had friends burying rays on Kangaroo Island; we had friends burying fish. We saw the impact every night on the news.”
She said the work needed to feel symbolic of what was being lost. “I knew it (the piece) had to be green, and I knew it had to represent the ghost-like creatures that had died.”
The Waterhouse Prize is one of Australia’s most prestigious and richest art awards, produced annually by the South Australian Museum. It celebrates artwork that connects science and the natural world, encouraging artists to explore everything from biology and geology through to environmental change and First Nations knowledge systems.
This year’s Emerging Artist award went to Victorian artist Kat Parker for Discarded (Christmas Island Pipistrelle), a life-sized hanging sculpture of a tiny bat last recorded in the wild in 2009. The piece captures the animal in suspended flight, symbolising extinction and the quiet disappearance of species from the natural world.
Kat receives $10,000 for her work, which judges praised for its emotional impact and scientific storytelling.
Across both categories, 74 finalists were selected from hundreds of entries nationwide, with 42 works in the Open category and 32 in the Emerging category. The exhibition brings together a wide range of artistic interpretations of the natural world, from delicate sculpture to bold conceptual works.
Highly commended artists were also recognised across both categories, including entries from South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and the ACT. Works explored everything from insects and shells to ecological mapping and endangered species.
“I had the privilege of being a judge for the Waterhouse this year, and I was amazed by the quality of the entries,” shared South Australian Museum Director Dr Samantha Hamilton. “Deb McKay and Kat Parker are the deserving winners in what was a very close contest. The Waterhouse explores the nexus between science and the arts, and we hope the prize and resulting exhibition make both more accessible to more people. Our team at the Museum has again created an outstanding exhibition, reinforcing the Museum’s place at the centre of our State’s cultural identity.”
The exhibition will be open to the public at the South Australian Museum from Friday, April 10th to Sunday, July 19th, giving visitors the chance to explore all shortlisted works alongside the winning pieces.
Now in its 24th year, the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize continues to be a major platform for Australian artists working between creativity and science, with this year’s winners offering a powerful reminder of both beauty and loss in the natural world.
