John Dahlsen

John Dahlsen is an award-winning Australian contemporary environmental artist. He uses found objects, primarily plastic bags, from Australian beaches in his work.

Dahlsen studied art from 1977 to 1979 at the Victorian College of the Arts and in 1989 at the Melbourne College of Advanced Education. In addition to his art, he also lectures at Australian universities and at environmental symposiums around the world. He has exhibited work in many solo and group exhibitions since 1979. Dahlsen currently lives in Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia.

In 2000, Dahlsen won the Wynne Prize from the Art Gallery of New South Wales for his piece Thong Totem. He was also a finalist in both 2003 and 2004. In 2006 he was a finalist for the Sir John Sulman Medal from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the second prize winner of the Signature of Sydney Art Prize. He has also won many other awards, such as the 2003 award for mixed media/new media at the Florence Biennial of Contemporary Art, Environmental Art Awards at the Swell Sculpture Exhibition in 2009 and 2010, and the Peoples Choice Award in the ArtsCape Biennial Sculpture Exhibition in 2010.

He has also been awarded several grants from the Australian government as well as private groups.