Alice Springs resident Leyla Altintas awarded Exit Art Minister’s Choice Award for Fever Pitch

When a Red Centre student discovered she was a finalist for this year’s Exit Art competition, she almost could not believe it - and on Friday she got an even bigger surprise. Find out why.

A special art exhibition, Exit Art, showcasing 45 works from some of the Northern Territory'•s brightest student artists opens at MAGNT on February 22, 2025. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

When 18-year-old Leyla Altintas discovered she was a finalist for this year’s Exit Art competition, she almost could not believe it – and on Friday she got an even bigger surprise.

“I feel quite lucky, I didn’t expect it to be honest,” Altintas, the winner of the Minister’s Choice Exit Art Award, said.

“It’s a nice feeling, especially since it was one of the first times I’ve dedicated time towards my art again.”

Images supplied by Altintas show the process she went through to create her piece; here is one of her earlier sketches. Picture: Leyla Altintas

Altintas, who moved to Alice Springs in 2020 and recently graduated from Centralian Senior College, finished her artwork, Fever Pitch, last year as part of a school project.

Created using vibrant Posca paint markers and transparent PVC plastic sheets, Fever Pitch will be on display at the Museum and Art Gallery NT from Saturday.

Altintas centred her piece around the theme of emotion.

“I felt like it was [a piece] where I could go a lot of different ways,” she said.

“Emotion gave me the creative freedom to try not just drawing or painting but lots of techniques … I really liked that.”

Fever Pitch on display at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The thing about art, Altintas said, was there was no “correct” way to approach it.

“You can’t really mess it up … there’s a strict way to do other subjects, where if you don’t get it right you have to keep relearning it,” she said.

“The reason I like art so much isn’t because it was easy and I could flunk it all the time, but because it was more of a self-guided approach where you could figure it out on your own and there wasn’t one specific way to do it.”

Minister Jo Hersey said Altintas’ art “stood out” to her as soon as she entered the room. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“It’s a good way to be confident in what I’m doing rather than feeling like I’m getting it wrong and failing.”

Although she thought Fever Pitch was one of her best pieces, Altintas did not think she would win an award.

“I didn’t do it expecting a finalist position,” she said.

In this frame, Altintas attempted to align the two photos together to form coloured lines. Picture: Leyla Altintas

While a job in art is difficult to get, Altintas said there was no reason to stop trying.

“I’m thinking once I get a bit more trajectory with my studies and a solid job, I’ll do it as a passion project and do art on the side,” she said.

“I know it’s not the most inspiring but it’s hard to get a full-time career in art.”

Exit Art opens to the public on January 22 at MAGNT.

Originally published as Alice Springs resident Leyla Altintas awarded Exit Art Minister’s Choice Award for Fever Pitch