The 2014 Minoru Hokari Scholarship is awarded to Ms Priya Vaughan for her project Aboriginal Art Making in New South Wales.

There has been relatively little anthropological and historical research into Aboriginal art practice in south-east Australia; this project promises to make a major contribution to redressing this neglect. A vital element of Priya’s research into what she describes as a ‘vivacious art scene’ is her engagement with practising artists to document their processes, experiences, motivations and explanations regarding the art they make. The Hokari Scholarship will help Priya cover costs involved in travelling to speak with artists and facilitating meetings with them.

The Committee was especially impressed with Priya’s commitment to ethical research practices. She has previously demonstrated the fruits of working in this way with Bidjigal artists from La Perouse in Sydney.

Priya is currently undertaking a PhD as part of the Interdisciplinary Cross Cultural Research Program (Department of Archaeology and Anthropology) at the Australian National University. She recently completed a Masters of Philosophy in Social Anthropology at University of Oxford.