STUDENT
ART PRIZE
2020/21

Anushka Suresh
Heroism in the wild, 2021
Colour pencil on paper

‘Watching a little leopard grow and adapting to the wild needs tremendous courage. My time-lapse art similarly builds the character coming to life piece by piece, it captures the way how it carries itself, reflected in the way it walks and the fierceness in its eye. Even with extinction coming its way, it battles for its survival until it’s last breathe. These thoughts were very inspirational to me, as it demonstrates how much there is to learn from animal heroism.’

Fran Beal
Upward Gazing, 2020
Embroidery on linen fabric

‘Trees are arguably the most heroic living organisms on the planet and don’t receive the recognition they deserve. In 2010 it was found that America’s trees absorbed 9-23.2 million tonnes of air pollution, subsequently preventing around 670,000 cases of acute respiratory problems (Nowak, et al., 2014). And yet, despite their enormous long-term benefits to the planet, trees are being remove at a rapid rate. In fact, according to the World Bank, the earth lost half a million square miles of forest between 1990 and 2016. Instead, we need to be celebrating forests and trees as the heroes that they are.’

_{Descriptive Text: Animation of a bee flying and an animal eating flowers in a summery landscape.}

Eloise Jenninger
Bees, 2021
2D digital animation

‘This animation suggests that the good maintenance of a whole system, thanks to the sum of small, repetitive actions by hundreds of individuals should be as, if not more, recognised and valued as a single heroic action or individual. The actions of pollinators keep alive thousands of species, including humans. The animation questions the ideas of individuality and exceptionality often assumed in the concept of heroism. It also suggests that ‘maintaining alive’ may be as important as ‘saving’, thus interrogating why the latter is often considered as heroic when not the former.’

Amana Moore
Where Ends Meet, 2017
Oil on MDF board

‘This painting depicts life at the contact points in society. It seeks to capture the border spaces, where people who are different come into conversation, conflict and community. Community is a space where simple heroism takes place, through daily heroic acts of choosing to care for another. It takes a brave willingness to move from where you are to engage in meaningful relationships, which in turn produce insight. Choosing to listen, to love, to understand, is the simple heroism we must all have the courage to pursue if we are to see tangible progress and build genuine community in today’s world.’

Lucy Baker
Global Operation, 2021
Oil on canvas board

‘Amid a global pandemic, it is a reasonable assumption that one’s thoughts will turn to the NHS when presented with the theme “heroes”. That accolade is thoroughly deserved – never before have healthcare workers faced such pressure. On a small scale, individual NHS workers are helping people every day, while on global scale, health workers are collectively “healing the world.” My painting combines these two concepts, illustrating that handling the COVID-19 pandemic is a global operation. In this sense, healthcare workers truly are heroes.’