Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarships awarded for 2026

12 November 2025

Yuriyal Bridgeman (PNG/QLD), Teresa Busuttil (SA) and EJ Son (NSW) have been named recipients of the 2026 Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship.

Image: Photo (L-R): Yuriyal Bridgeman, courtesy of Mick Richards; EJ Son, courtesy of the artist; and Teresa Busuttil, courtesy of Leo Chircop.

Each artist will receive institutional fees for one academic year, a tax-free allowance of $75,000, and travel expenses to an international art program of their choice.

The scholarships, administered by the University of South Australia’s Samstag Museum of Art, support Australian-based artists to study overseas, develop their practice, and build global connections.

The 2026 selection panel included Samstag Director Erica Green, contemporary artist Nell, and Stephen Atkinson, Program Director: Contemporary Art at UniSA. The panel highlighted the clarity of purpose shown by each recipient.

Bridgeman’s work draws on his Papua New Guinean and Australian heritage. He will study in Germany, gaining access to PNG artefact collections to inform his storytelling practice.

Busuttil, an Australian artist of Maltese heritage, will study in Portugal to explore Mediterranean history and culture in her work on identity, memory, and belonging.

Son’s conceptually driven practice spans multiple media, and they will join the Master of Fine Arts: New Genres program at UCLA to further develop experimental approaches.

The scholarship program, established in 1992, has awarded 152 scholarships and supported artists who have exhibited at major national and international events, including the Venice Biennale and the Biennale of Sydney.

The scholarships are awarded by UniSA and administered by the Samstag Museum of Art on behalf of the Trustee of the estate of Gordon Samstag, an American artist who taught at the South Australian School of Art in the 1960s.