1st Prize Winner, Sculpture Award 2026

Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2026

Jale Soysal

Title:

“The First Arrow” 

Medium & Dimensions:

Epoxy clay, Metal, Acrylic paint, Resin, Silk, 45 x 41 x 32cm

About the Artist

Jale Soysal is a multidisciplinary Australian/Turkish artist based in Melbourne. She studied at Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School before obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Animation at RMIT University. Working professionally across sculpture, animation direction and design, her work has been exhibited and collected in numerous national and international exhibitions. As a fine artist, she primarily works with clay, a medium she has enjoyed creating with since childhood. Her art practice is drawn to the tension between beauty and the macabre, often exploring the relationships between living beings and drawing on themes of instinct, companionship, vulnerability and ways her imagined creatures relate to and affect one another. Jale utilises mixing organic forms and textures with fantastical elements to create her uniquely surreal and darkly whimsical aesthetic, creating scenes that are simultaneously unsettling and emotionally intimate.

“The First Arrow”: I am drawn to birds for their extraordinary diversity, beauty, and association with freedom, I use avian symbology as a vessel for longing, escape, and whimsy. ‘The First Arrow’ represents my discomfort in an imperfect world and my inability to change what I fundamentally am, and it explores my interest in blending nature, surrealism, and visceral imagery, altered enough to suggest deeper mythologies beneath the surface.