Regional Arts NSW and The Windmill Trust are pleased to announce that the 2025 Windmill Trust Scholarship for regional NSW artists has been awarded to Shan Turner-Carroll.

Turner-Carroll is a Queer, Australian artist of Burmese descent, currently based in his hometown Lovedale, on the lands of the Wonnarua people. His practice is responsive in nature, working with both site and situation and incorporating experimental mythologies with humour through photography, sculpture, installation and performance. Turner-Carroll explores the interaction between the human and non-human world, making work that can ‘…sing to snakes, signal with extraterrestrials, and barter with islands, rivers, and oceans.’

Turner-Carroll’s connection to Lovedale and regional life is strong, being built on his experience of building his mud-brick home with his family as a kid, where he first discovered his love for making. However, as a queer person of colour, he did experience life on the periphery in his teenage years and sought community elsewhere in young adulthood. Turner-Carroll has achieved an Advanced Diploma at Newcastle Art School TAFE (2008), a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) Class 1 (2012) and a Master of Philosophy (Fine Art) (2016) at The University of Newcastle. During his Master’s degree, he spent one year on exchange at & Parsons School of Design, The New School, NYC.

After his studies, and a period of pursing his career as an artist in Sydney, he returned to Lovedale and has since sought to imbed himself into the community. He is spending time gardening and developing his ideas, as well as volunteering at Maitland Regional Gallery, supporting Queer youth and people with disabilities.

Turner-Carroll has been awarded the Windmill Trust Scholarship to develop a body of work for a solo exhibition at Newcastle Art Gallery (NAG) from September 26 2026, to January 31, 2027. This opportunity is extremely meaningful to him, being the gallery he visited as a high school student and one that is connected deeply to his community in the Hunter Valley.

This body of work that will consider the implications of the resurgence of global interest in space travel.

“This fascination with extraterrestrial life and the quest for space exploration reflects humanity’s innate curiosity and desire for connection beyond our planet. This yearning often coincides with contemporary political, humanitarian and climate crises. The search for extraterrestrials can be seen as a metaphor for our desire for hope, new beginnings and solutions outside our immediate reality.”

In April 2026, he will undertake a one-month residency at Canberra Glassworks (CGW) to create ‘poetic instruments’ that are a genuine attempt to tune into messages from the ‘more than human’, such as extraterrestrials, spirits or ancestors. He sees this attempt at communication as an act of prayer and a search for hope in uncertain times. By creating instruments that attune us to these realms, he is offering the audience the opportunity to reflect on the act of listening, asking them “what are the voices that are privileged and what knowledge might we miss?”

Established by Primrose Moss in 1997 in memory of the artist Penny Meagher, the Windmill Trust Scholarship was born out of a desire to offer support to Australian visual artists living outside NSW metropolitan areas to advance their careers. It will greatly assist Turner-Carroll as he progresses from an emerging to a mid-career artist. Without the assistance of the scholarship, he would not be able to complete his residency at CGW or produce the work he envisions for his exhibition at NAG.

Turner-Carroll believes that a range of voices – the more diverse the better – are needed to truly represent contemporary Australia. As a Queer person of colour who is based in regional Australia, he feels the weight of connecting to his community and maintaining momentum in his career. This opportunity will ensure that his voice is heard, and his experience is represented in a nationally recognised institution.

On receiving the scholarship he said, “I’m just so thankful and honoured. There are many wonderful people in the past who have received it, and so I feel really lucky to be sitting amongst them.”

“We need a lot of dialogue to move forward and to keep questioning and challenging and rewriting our future. And that’s only going to happen with hearing diverse voices through opportunities like this.”

Julia Harvey, Victoria Weekes and the Windmill Trustees congratulate Shan Turner Carroll on winning the 2025 Windmill Trust Scholarship. “Shan is a very worthy winner for 2025. We have been delighted to see the progress of his work in recent years and are excited to see his next steps with the support of the scholarship,” said Julia Harvey.

The assessors noted, “This year’s round of applications were of a very high standard. Turner-Carroll’s application showed evidence of a well-developed artistic practice with a strong conceptual framework. His detailed and quirky proposal caught the assessor’s interest, and the time for experimentation and skills development that the scholarship will afford him to undertake promises to deliver future works of an outstanding quality.”

The Windmill Trust Scholarship for Regional NSW Artists will be open again for applications in 2026.

Learn more about the work of Shan Turner-Caroll here: shanturnercarroll.com

Learn more about The Windmill Trust Scholarship here: www.windmilltrust.org.au

Cover image: Winner of the 2025 Windmill Trust Scholarship, Shan Turner-Carroll, “Edge Of The Garden”, 2021. Mixed media, photography.

An indoor installation features a large, textured rock or log positioned on a polished concrete floor. A circular mirror is mounted upright on the rock’s surface, reflecting part of the gallery space and a brick wall in the background. Off to the left is a mechanical object on small legs, resembling a projector or robot.

Shan Turner-Carroll “Bodies On A Rock” (installation view), 2020. Installation, sculpture, video, performance. Photo: MRAG, NSW.

A contemporary gallery installation with several large rocks arranged across a spacious, polished concrete floor. Among the rocks are technical objects, such as a standing projector on a tripod, cables, a white ball with orange fabric, reflective panels, and a large upright circular mirror. The scene is well lit, with white walls and ceiling spotlights illuminating the artworks.

Shan Turner-Carroll “Bodies On A Rock” (installation view), 2020. Installation, sculpture, video, performance. Photo: MRAG, NSW.

A person sits on a tall referee-style chair in a gymnasium. They wear a sleeveless top, long-sleeve undershirt, and extremely long denim overalls that drape all the way to the floor, with black boots visible at the ends of the oversized legs. The background features wooden gym bars and a polished indoor court floor.

Shan Turner-Carroll, “Growing tall”, 2024. Archival digital ink jet print.

A person sits atop a large green plastic container in a dimly lit, industrial setting. They wear a light-colored, paint-splattered jumpsuit, rolled up at the cuffs, tall socks, and wooden platform footwear shaped like stilts.

Shan Turner-Carroll, “Power Bottom”, 2024. Archival digital ink jet print.

A person sits atop a large, weathered soccer ball sculpture standing upright in a snowy landscape at dusk. They wear dark pants, boots, and a white cloth decorated with colorful patches draped over their head and shoulders. Snowy mountains and small houses are visible in the background.

Shan Turner-Carroll, “Waiting for night to jump”, 2024. Archival digital ink jet print.

 

A person stands in front of a worn, freestanding frame draped with tattered fabric outdoors at night. They wear a matching, textured garment constructed from patched materials. The ground beneath them is covered in ashes and burnt debris, surrounded by grass.

Shan Turner-Carroll, “Edge Of The Garden, Dad”, 2020. Archival digital ink jet print.

 

A person is wrapped in a bulky yellow blanket patterned with an organic design and protruding with branch-like sticks. They stand on a bare patch of ground with green tufts of grass at their feet. The person holds a large, bright circular reflective object at chest height. The background is entirely black.

Shan Turner-Carroll, “Edge Of The Garden, Mum”, 2020. Archival digital ink jet print. [/caption]

A handmade shelter sits in a grassy clearing surrounded by bushland. The structure is pieced together from branches, logs, and recycled building materials like doors and window frames. A leafy tree grows out of the roof's center and a fallen log rests in the foreground. Tall grass and dense forest edge the scene.

Shan Turner-Carroll, “Edge Of The Garden”, 2021. Mixed media, photography.

Five large photographic portraits hang side by side on a white gallery wall. Each portrait features a person in a unique costume standing or posing outdoors at night. The figures appear isolated against dark backgrounds, some with props like smoky effects or standing in water, creating a dramatic and theatrical display.

Shan Turner-Carroll “Edge Of The Garden” (installation view), 2021. Mixed media, photography. Photo: COMA Gallery, Sydney.

A contemporary gallery installation showcases a large, freestanding metal frame structure adorned with pastel orange draped fabric, blue fabric, and various attached objects, such as a red-and-blue boot, crutches, and handmade decorations. Framed photographs featuring figures in costume are displayed on the white walls behind the sculpture. The space is brightly lit, with a polished concrete floor.

Shan Turner-Carroll “Edge Of The Garden” (installation view), 2021. Mixed media, photography. Photo: COMA Gallery, Sydney.