ADELAIDE.- Now in its fifth year, the Porter Street Commission annually awards $20,000 to a South Australian artist at any stage of their career to create an ambitious new work to be presented as a solo exhibition at ACE in the following year.

Mark Valenzuela is an Adelaide-based artist who works between Australia and the Philippines. With a career spanning two decades, his work examines themes of conflict, dominance, occupation and resistance, often reflecting on his early experiences growing up in army base camps throughout the southern Philippines, and exploring the intersection of the personal and the political.

Valenzuela’s work defies categorisation, weaving together elements of ceramics, painting, drawing, sculpture, video, assemblage, and street art. Ceramics is an enduring medium for Valenzuela’s practice, and his expanded ceramic practice, influenced by his experiences working between the two countries, demonstrates a particular sensitivity to space.

“I'm very honoured to receive the Porter Street Commission,” says Valenzuela. “The exhibition space, funding, and curatorial support provided by this opportunity will enable me to create a large-scale immersive installation. It will provide a platform for me to expand my practice, be ambitious, and challenge myself. I'm so excited to get started on this project and I look forward to working with the team at ACE.”

Applications for the 2025 Porter Street Commission were considered by a selection panel composed of Olivia Aherne, Curator at Chisenhale Gallery, London; Troy-Anthony Baylis, Adelaide-based artist and descendant of the Jawoyn people from the Northern Territory; and Danni Zuvela, Artistic Director at ACE.

2025 Porter Street Commission Selection Panel Statement: “The applications for the 2025 Porter Street Commission showed a breadth of practices and creative preoccupations in contemporary South Australian practice. It was a pleasure to spend time with these carefully-crafted proposals and to gain insights into what artists are thinking about today.

While there were some exceptional ideas put forward, the judges were captivated by the vision animating Mark’s submission. Mark’s work was distinguished by its conceptual rigour, proposing a highly considered investigation of the relationship between resistance and oppression held in the concept of ‘defensiveness’.

With a career spanning two decades, Mark Valenzuela is an Adelaide-based artist who works between Australia and the Philippines. Although his practice wilfully resists categorisation, ceramics is an enduring medium for Valenzuela and has functioned as a linchpin to his many-parted installations that combine elements of painting, drawing, sculpture, video, assemblage and street art.

Working between the two countries, Valenzuela’s expanded ceramic practice is sensitive to space. It considers ideas of occupation and annexation; examines themes of conflict, dominance and resistance – reflecting on his early experiences growing up in army base camps throughout the southern Philippines – and frequently combines the personal with the political.

Valenzuela was the Feature Artist for the 2022 SALA Festival and the recipient of the 2022 SALA Publication, a monograph dedicated to his twenty-year practice. His works have featured in the 2020 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art (2020), the 15th Australian Ceramics Triennale (2019), and the 3rd Jakarta Contemporary Ceramics Biennale (2014). He is a recipient of the 2015 Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Award and is represented by Artinformal Gallery.