The Consandine family have generously provided an award in recognition of an outstanding work by a current Gertrude Studio Artist presented within the 2026 Gertrude Studios exhibition, Et cetera. The cash award recognises the significant impact of the residency (2002–2004) on Cate Consandine's artistic practice, timed to coincide with and commemorate her birthday on 15 November. Cate passed away on 14 April 2026.
The recipient of the award has been selected by Cate's son, Phoenix Abraham, his father, Sharif Abraham, and long-time friend and colleague from the Victorian College of the Arts, artist Sanja Pahoki. The gift from the Consandine family has been awarded to Hootan Heydari for his work Do You Remember This? (2026).
On selecting this work, the group reflected on the work's synergies with Cate's practice in the manner that the work evoked the body and its implication in experiencing the work, activating many senses simultaneously. They noted the hesitation that the work precipitates in crossing the threshold of the environment, and its embrace of material fragility. So too did they recognise shared connections in the deployment of looping as a structure and form of emphasis within Hootan and Cate's practices.
Hootan Heydari is a Tehran-born, Naarm Melbourne-based multidisciplinary artist. His practice spans photography, sculpture, and installation, investigating how memory persists not as a stable record but as residue, rhythm, and continual return. A recurring point of anchor is the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran, not as biography but as a reverberation that shapes his engagement with the past.
Heydari holds a First-Class Honours degree from RMIT University and a Master of Fine Arts by research from the Victorian College of Arts. He was awarded the Art 150 Fellowship in 2024. Selected solo exhibitions include Remembering to Forget, Bundoora Homestead (2025) Your Place is Empty, Conners Conners (2024), The Past is Present, Futures Gallery (2023). He is a sessional lecturer at RMIT University and has been a member of the City of Melbourne Public Art Advisory Panel since 2024.
Heydari is represented by FUTURES Gallery, Naarm Melbourne.
Gertrude Studios 2026: Et cetera continues until 12 December 2026.
Gertrude would like to warmly acknowledge the generosity of the Consandine family.
For more expansive context on Cate's practice and deep connectivity to Gertrude continue here.