Indian artist Yardena Kurulkar, has won the $35,000 Blake Prize for 2016, for her work depicting her own heart decaying into nothingness in a series of 15 panels, which she says reflect the shape shifting ability of human nature.

Presented for the first time in 2016 at Casula Powerhouse Art Centre (CPAC) the Blake Prize is Australia’s longest standing and most prestigious art prize which encourages conversation about spirituality and religion through art. The Blake Prize exhibition is presented from 13 February until 24 April 2016 at CPAC, featuring the work of 80 finalists from across Australia, Ireland, the USA, Switzerland, France, Germany and New Zealand. This year there were 594 entries for the Prize with the 80 finalists selected by the curatorial team at CPAC.

The Naomi Milgrom Foundation announced the commission for the third annual MPavilion has been awarded to acclaimed Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai. The announcement comes as the 2015 MPavilion closed on Sunday 7 February having welcomed more than 64,000 visitors attending 419 free events hosted over five months within the temporary architecture pavilion designed by award-winning British architect Amanda Levete of London-based studio AL_A.

Mumbai born Bijoy Jain is the founder of Studio Mumbai, known for working with a human infrastructure of skilled artisans, technicians and draftsmen who design and build the work themselves. The practice – which draws on traditional skills, local building techniques and materials – has had its work presented at the XII Venice Biennale and Victoria & Albert Museum and recently was awarded the Grande Medaille d’Or from the Academie D’Architecture in Paris (2014).