28 July 2022

Art jewelry by Lilian Naomi Mattuschka developed from research on norms and social interactions won this year's Eligius Award for body jewelry and jewelry objects; exhibited from late August at the MAK - Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna

The Eligius Jewelry Art Award was initiated 2005 by the Austrian federal state Salzburg and is handed out every three years to an exceptional artist who combines the design of body jewelry with the creation of jewelry-art objects. The winner of this year, the Austrian born in Italy living Lilian Naomi Mattuschka was presented in May at the Traklhaus in Salzburg where the exhibition of works of all nominees including the winner was on view from 6 May until 2 July.
Now, the exhibition travels to the Eligius cooperation partner, the MAK Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna where it will be on shown from 31 August until 25 September at the MAK Forum. In 2022, the 10 nominees were selected by a jury from 35 submissions. The names of the other nine nominees are Andrea Auer, Andreas Eberharter, Benedikt Fischer, Andrea MAXA Halmschlager, Ulrike Johannsen, Michelle Kraemer, Gerti Machacek, Izabella Petrut, and Konstanze Prechtl.

The Eligius Award is named after the patron saint of goldsmiths Saint Eligius. The prize honors the manual skills as well as the artistic expression of artist who create jewelry-art objects such as in the case of this year's winner Lilian Naomi Mattuschka whose body jewelry from the series 'Volatili/Birds' might appear at the first sight like a wing clip to restrict freedom or an orthopedic device, a sort of orthosis to improve posture. The artist writes in a posting on Instagram that the wooden body piece is the "Result of a research revolving around issues on social behavior and norms that define and direct human interactions". Other exhibited pieces are the large-sized chains from the series 'In meditation'.

Images, from left: Body jewelry by Lilian Naomi Mattuschka from the series Volatili/Birds (Fotoserie Communication), 2016. Photo: © Lilian Naomi Mattuschka. Right: Exhibition of body jewelry by Lilian Naomi Mattuschka at the Traklhaus in Salzburg. On view, the objects from the series Volatili/Birds and In Meditation/What is Left, 2016/2019, made from various woods. Photo: © Rudolf Strobl.