Emily Buckley-Bunn

Earth of Earth

2023
Mud and Bark (encased in glue) in Wooden Frame

'My piece depicts Earth, highlighting the significance of our planet as the sanctuary of humanity in the universe. It is ‘Mother’ Earth; like a womb it creates us and provides us with everything we need. In all the years of searching, we have never found another place in the universe that can sustain life; no place that could provide sanctuary to humanity like Earth. Earth is our home, our place of safety.

But despite this, we are rejecting the Earth. We are poisoning it from within. It is the climate crisis, tipping Earth out of balance. With all our technological advancements, we behave as though we don’t need Earth anymore, as if we ourselves did not come from the water of Earth. But in destroying Earth, we are also destroying ourselves. When Earth can no longer be our sanctuary, where will we go?

Through using the raw materials of Earth to make my piece, I hope to remind us of the sacred nature of our planet. The piece treasures every little fragment of bark I have found on the ground. The materials are universal and timeless reminding us that Earth is the sanctuary for all.'

Danai-Maria Kontou

Threadening an Arctic Quilt

2022
Fabric Quilt

'The Arctic is a remote and isolated region that is known for its tranquillity and breath-taking landscapes of ice and snow. It is home to unique ecosystems and cultures that have been protected and preserved for generations. However, in recent years, the Arctic has come under threat due to climate change and human industrial activities such as oil drilling, which are endangering its sanctity.

Using fabrics, threads, scissors, and a sewing machine, I tried to bring to life the challenges of studying this remote and isolated region, which is mainly studied using satellite images. The quilt, which I named "Threadening", is a symbol of the difficulties in understanding, analysing, and communicating the environmental changes that are happening in the Arctic. It highlights the uncertainty surrounding the changes and their impact on the people and wildlife in the circumpolar region.

Despite its unpredictable weather and extreme cold, the Arctic remains a sanctuary for wildlife and a source of peace and inspiration for explorers. This installation is meant to raise awareness about the importance of protecting the Arctic as a sanctuary and preserving its unique ecosystems and cultures for future generations.'

Anna Clarke Art 3rd Place Winner

Terminal 21 

2023
Acrylic on Canvas

'Sanctuary to me is somewhere where I can find peace of mind. The modern world is full of stimuli leading us to constantly think about what is coming next.

For me sanctuary is having a moment in the day to look around, enjoy the environment and clear the mind. This bustling scene is somewhere I found sanctuary, watching the world pass by. Allowing the thoughts to flow with the movement and not lingering on any for too long. In this environment I managed to find a meditative state juxtaposing the typical notion of sanctuary as being in nature.

What inspired me to paint this scene were the variety of colours, showing the city to be a vibrant place, as typically when thinking about a city the main colour to come to mind is grey. In this painting I wanted to change the narrative and show that cities can be beautiful places and a sanctuary to many people.'

Grace Nicholson Photography 1st Place Winner

Sherburn Road - Bingo

2023
Digital Photograph

'The Apollo Bingo and Social Club on Sherburn Road just outside of Durham City marks the end of each day for me. The aptly named bus stop ‘Bingo’ is outside my student house, where work ends, and rest begins. The Bingo Hall has been a leisure space for over 80 years, used by local residents in Sherburn Road but in 2021 the site was bought with intended use for a four-story student accommodation building. As a student living locally, I have spoken to my neighbours who relied on the Bingo Hall as community space. They are now seeing the effect of the lack of public leisure facilities in an area already suffering from high crime rates and deprivation.

My aim in photographing the Bingo Hall in the low, afternoon winter sun, is to elevate the importance of community spaces, as well as the responsibility of students to respect local residents. The Bingo Hall may be seen as a symbol of the tension between the University and local residents, or of the decline and privatisation of public spaces that are a crucial sanctuary to many’.

Mark Pook Photography 3rd Place Winner

Osaka Castle: Sanctuary in the City

2022
Photography

'I chose to take the theme of sanctuary both literally and figuratively with this submission. Osaka castle is the symbol of Osaka, Japan and one of its most famous sights. Obviously, as castles do, it acted as a sanctuary and fortress for hundreds of years. However, I also chose this symbol for personal reasons. Osaka is both my partner’s home and the place I’ve most wanted to visit.

After being kept apart by covid, I was devastated to learn I wouldn’t be going to Osaka during my year abroad. Through persistence however, I was eventually able to make it there at the end of my year abroad. My partner returned from Germany in order to spend time with me there. It acted as a sanctuary for us both to meet again and for me to connect with the place she grew up.

While this looks a very straight-forward photo, I put a lot of effort into the composition of the trees both in the background below and foreground above which when combined contour and frame the castle. In addition, due to Japan’s very strict covid restrictions and low numbers of visitors I was able to photograph from a unique angle.’

Adnan Jinnah

Intermediary World

2023
Short Film

'The idea behind this work was to see whether the usual Durham that we adore could be transformed into a different dimension. I wanted to explore how different a typical walk from the top of observatory hill into the Cathedral could be. I was drawn towards making something that felt like an intermediary between the normal and the different. Completely transforming photos of Durham into something entirely different would lose our sense of connection with it. Whether or not this intermediary can be found or not I wanted to see.

This work is about the Sanctuary that exists within Durham as not just the natural metaphor of Durham Cathedral, but also the feeling elicited from a sense of normalcy in a simple walk towards it. It is common to appreciate the normal with some element of added fantasy or nostalgia. In a sense, does the result feel give a sense of escapism and awe in the intermediary normal? Does this intermediary provide a sense of Sanctuary by transforming our ordinary experience?’

Zhuoqi Liu Art 1st Place Winner

Preconscious

2023
Ink on Paper and Metal Braiding (Jewellery Design)

'Desires are generated from every moment when I am feeling and thinking. When desires are not fulfilled, I become depressed. A sanctuary is therefore needed to give me a sense of security, that can only be built inner myself; where desires can be forgotten, and peace can be achieved.

This work is inspired by Freud's psychoanalytic theory. My self-portrait is the metaphor of consciousness, a clear representation of myself, where emotions and desires are clearly presented. I have too many requirements for myself and always compare myself with others, so I always feel anxious and unsettled. I am the subconscious, which suffered from the feeling of depression. The preconscious is the veil I weave, which envelopes the anxious me like a dream. It wanders between the conscious and subconscious, or like a bridge.

Only when doing metal braiding, I have no desire and stop thinking. In the process of metal braiding (dreaming), I get an emotional release and build my own sanctuary. The emotions that have been released in the process can return to consciousness. Throughout the process of metal braiding, a spiritual catharsis is obtained’.

Annie Park People's Vote Winner

It'll Come Out in the Wash

2022
Acrylics and pencil on Paper

'My painting depicts the intimate, dependable sanctuary of a shower. Perhaps the site where we are least conscious of our physical presence and external image, showers can be a place of catharsis and private thought, but also of sequestering oneself. Creating this artwork was a way of acknowledging the reassuring familiarity and security which this space represents for me.

In my painting I was inspired by artist Cristina Troufa’s enigmatic self-portraits, captivating for their attention to light and colour being juxtaposed against unfinished areas of vacant space in the figure. Considering the vulnerability that accompanies the comforting process of showering, I wanted to experiment with negative space in my portrait in a similar way, exploring how retracting something can actually enhance the overall image. The incomplete effect this created seemed appropriate, reflecting the unimportance of a presentable or ‘perfect’ image in somewhere we are comfortable.

By not granting us full invasive access to the space, the comfort of this private sanctuary is preserved, and the bleeding appearance of the paint helps to emphasise how both physical dirt and psychological heaviness is rinsed at once: everything comes out in the wash.'

Angelica Hopton

Universal Sanctuary

2023
Oil and Acrylic on Canvas

'I’ve always thought, perhaps rather pessimistically, that sanctuary could only be within myself, as dependency is too vulnerable and things are rarely permanent. People come and go and ultimately, we all die. Personally, sanctuary is inner peace but from birth, everyone’s sanctuary is unique, shaped by experiences and cultural influences.

I’ve explored universal sanctuary attempting to identify an intrinsically human experience beyond our control that unites us all. Thus, I looked at our biological origin and development in the womb requiring full dependence on another to survive. The adult is pictured retreating to its safe, worry- free foetal state within an abstract womb. Her full encapsulation in the embryonic sac represents a warming hug. Some naturally sleep in the foetal position at it is comforting, aiding sleep. Sleep and dreams create a sanctuary through escapism, decoupling from reality. The gold and blue symbolise this peaceful, freeing dream state. The vein and cell-like structures acknowledge our biological roots, and full dependency through the umbilical cord.

The structures are also root-like and resemble neural/electric networks symbolising the deep, grounding and energising biological connection of humans to nature. Nature anchors us with its consistency through cyclical days and seasons’.  

Elliar Cheung

Cord 

2023
Digital Artwork

'This artwork depicts two figures joined together by a cord-like string that resembles both the umbilical of an astronaut and that of a foetus. Different techniques have been applied upon drawing each figure, to suggest the conspicuous distinction between what we might assume in regards to a professional astronaut and to an unconscious foetus. But the umbilical cord is the key to uncover the hidden connection between them: an astronaut bearing the innocent unconsciousness of mankind –like an unborn foetus, awaiting the embrace of a greater universe (which is like the womb of a mother) - and forever searching for an ultimate place of sanctuary amidst the vast unknown.

The perpetual longing for belongingness, security and thus sanctuary is a quality universally shared among us all. Like a question that is never answered, the call for sanctuary shall only reverberate among us all, for however long it takes.’

Aelfred Hillman

Amidst the Long Grass 

2021
Oil on Board

'This self-portrait captures how careful observation and process can offer a sanctuary to an artist, concealing a version of the self in material, silence and time.

The foliage here is depicted like a limbic which absorbs the figure. The mask is a Sri-Lankan Medical mask, offered as a totem of the security of tradition and community which are otherwise impossible to visualise.'

Adam Sreeves

EQ 

2023
Mixed Media on Canvas

'Like so many people, I’ve always used music as a personal sanctuary. ‘EQ’ celebrates the everyday escapism of putting on a pair of headphones and drowning everything out. This self-portrait depicts one of the many times in which music provided the sanctuary I needed. Clashing colours and unsettling shapes represent the sensory overload of the outside world; an assault on the senses made physical through crumbling, disintegrating textures, clothes and skin flaking away, in some places literally held together by stitches. But there is also the sense of everything ‘fading out’, slowly retreating into the safety of the world conjured up by the headphones.'

Emma Allison Photography 2nd Place Winner

In Safe Hands

2023
Photography

'When two hands come together, sanctuary can be found. From the day you are born, you are placed in the affectionate hands of your parents, whose hands gladly provide safety throughout life. This sense of security flows between and within generations, with grandparents’ hands possessing years of wisdom. The foundation of these relationships bud from a partnership; a hand to hold that you seek yourself. This may not always be a person; animals recognise when someone requires comfort, and some may find refuge in the hands of religion. Whose hands provide your sanctuary?

‘In safe hands’ depicts the sanctuary found in the hands of these relationships, an important yet overlooked element of daily life. The creation of this series in monochrome removes the distraction of colour to draw focus towards the safety, affection and emotion portrayed in the images, whilst also illustrating a timeless and nostalgic appearance. Stripping the relationships down to their simplest form signifies that sanctuary doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. Overall, the photographs portray unconditional love that hands always provide. Love is sanctuary’.

Ivy Hewett

Security, Sanctuary, Blanket

2023
Embroidered textile

'Sewing has always been where I turn for Sanctuary. Somewhere, hidden within the stiches lie years of mindless meditation, the fabric holding too much comfort to contain it bursts at the seams. “Security, Sanctuary, Blanket.” is an ode to all I seek Sanctuary in, whether that be people, places, concepts and ideas, or things. The work is doused in two scents – coffee and my loves perfume – two ultimate anchors of Sanctuary for me. Sewn over exactly 37 hours to mirror the 37 days individuals would receive as Sanctuary in Durham Cathedral, “Security, Sanctuary, Blanket.” is a piece that is made to be draped over the shoulders of a person to allow them to feel the weight of comfort and security wash over them, encapsulate them.

Sanctuary is a fragile concept. “Security, Sanctuary, Blanket.” is ripped and frayed in places to signify this fragility, however the warmth and comfort it represents stands true. I created this work not only as a form of spiritual practice – to connect myself back to my place of safety and peace, but so others can take the time to try and read all the little intricacies stitched within the words- take a moment, fall into Sanctuary.'

Saskia Hayes

Reading

2023
Oil paint on Raw Canvas

'Approaching the theme ‘Sanctuary’ I was considering how reading and literature can powerfully be a form of escapism and, therefore, a Sanctuary. I created the painting as I wanted to represent the experience of complete absorption and comfort in being surrounded by a story. I used warm tones and swirling brushstrokes to capture this, and the dynamic nature of the story which is brought to life as its read. The readers are shielded from the external world which fades away in the background so that only the story being read is in focus, while imagined benevolent figures from their stories are represented peering down at them.

I was inspired by Scheherazade from 1001 Arabian Nights as through the power of her narration she avoided execution and the stories she told became her sanctuary. Here the story speaks through the texts which are drawing the readers in, alike the power of Scheherazade’s voice, resulting in complete immersion.'

Rebecca Rowe Richard Roberts Prize Winner

Everyone has a Sanctuary

2022
Gouache and White Fineliner on Black Card

'My sanctuary is in motion at my grandmother’s stove. It is a place of sweet hugs and being wrapped very tightly in the warm embrace, packed with a million rushing and familiar scents, the hearty meal leaving you full from food and life; a plate of stories are dished out to me. Mind-free; an escape without needing to seek refuge, it fuels me to pick myself back up.

It is a privilege to have a sanctuary of your own that you never had to seek. Perhaps the selfless act of cooking for others, the virtue provides a sanctuary within the mind of my grandma. Sanctuaries are not a right given or something to earn, and yet we all need one. This piece is both a snapshot of my childhood sanctuary and a reminder to have your own sanctuary to be in harmony with the conflicts in your life. This is most definitely overlooked until we spiral and find ourselves longing for our own version of Grandmother’s kitchen.

All sanctuaries are significant, and are only defined as such within our own perception. It is the only place which can be protected from the tainting from the world’.

Martin Endersby

Joe

2022
Film Photograph

'Building an intimate friendship with someone can be difficult when you have both been brought up as boys. Your school years teach you the dangers of vulnerability, that opening up to someone is more likely to invite cutting jokes than gestures of support. You learn not to expect open arms, nor to hear “I’m proud of you,” or be told “It’s OK if you can’t do that thing today – let’s stay in, watch a movie in silence, and cry if we need to." Finding sanctuary in friendship is knowing you don’t have to put up walls in that person’s company. Instead, you can learn to take old walls down, brick by brick, and build each other up instead.

But sanctuary can also be found in your own company, in time spent alone with your thoughts. This is time that Joe and I know we can ask from each other and that I hoped to capture with this image.  Joe is his own sanctuary, just as we are also each other’s. We all need sanctuary with others and within ourselves; friendship is helping each other find both’.

Mary Ward

River People

2023
Oil paint on Raw Canvas

'This painting was a response to the memory of one of my favourite locations; a river that me and my friends would visit often. Each of the figures in the painting are from the edges of photographs taken at the river, of friends swimming, wading or sitting next to it. It’s a location that typifies sanctuary, nostalgia and the memory of summer for me, so to complete this painting in the winter was an act of remembrance. I wanted to crowd the figures together and overlay them in parts to represent the ephemerality of the moment and the idea of the place as a common refuge for the different people that visited it. The colour also embodies the space of sanctuary, with warmer tones of sun, reflected skin alongside dark Prussian blue and cooler hues of the water’.  

Jadden Tseng

House of Canvas

2023
Video (Moving Painting)

'The idea of sanctuary is often related to a hideaway, a safe space alone. As an international student, I have lived in four countries, and studied in more than a dozen institutions. This brevity in living in any one place brought cultural and language barriers, dividing me from even my own country. I have lived years in literal silence, unable to speak coherently. Art has been my way of communicating, connecting and finding common ground with people since my earliest memories. I am claustrophobic of "sanctuary" in its original sense. I don't want to be shut away by my differences. I find my sanctuary when I open the door and invite you in. Please do come in, so I can be out with you all.'

Viktorija Demjanova

imaginary

2023
Ink on Paper

'In this drawing I tried to represent an internal sanctuary. Real, physical sanctuaries can be a place of safety and healing but residing in one for too long can become burdensome and can restrict development. Similarly, internal sanctuaries can be used as temporary rest stops from stressors, but prolonged stay can result in walling oneself up against all, and dwelling in cleansing rituals that, while giving a temporary sense of control, do not actually mean anything in the real world.

I think that when presented with challenging situations, it is important that we have the wisdom to decide when to pause and resume, as otherwise we run the risk of becoming the fellow depicted in the drawing’.

Emma Davies

Antietam

2023
Mixed media on Canvas

‘Antietam is a multimedia piece created using acrylic paint and textile materials over a historic photograph. To create this piece, I overlayed the photo over painted canvas. I then embroidered the top, using satin and outline stitches to create the desired effects.

The photograph depicts a horse killed with its rider in an American Civil War battle. I have stitched the silhouette of a human form in the foetal position, along with a line from the poem ‘The Battle Autumn of 1862’ by John Greenleaf Whittier. I also made use of negative space, cutting a hole in the canvas on the horses head and stitching wire to the fabric in order to create the illusion of a bullet hole.

I wanted to explore the nature of sanctuary on a fundamental level. The photograph represents the duality of sanctuary as a concept, specifically sanctuary in the natural world. The beloved horse, a companion seen as a comfort during war by its owner, sits slaughtered on an empty battlefield. While we find sanctuary in nature, our own selfishness simultaneously destroys it. The poem also represents man’s destructive relationship with nature, and the silhouette and bullet hole symbolise this ideas multi– faceted nature’.

Adeline Zhao

Her Temple

2023

Oil on Canvas

Your body is a temple… So glorify God in your body.  Corinthians 6:19-20

Blessed is Thy Fruit of Thy Womb. The Hail Mary

‘I dedicate this painting to Mary. It is an elegy on her becoming a sanctuary. Mary’s body was the first sanctuary which bore God’s human incarnate. Awed by the virgin birth, people sometimes forget that Mary was also “free from all sin" (Pope Pius XII) and “full of grace” (Phil 3:8-12). She was grievously reduced from a saint woman of flesh and personality to a sanctuary in Christianity, an epitome of ‘womanly virtues’ like purity and motherhood, a symbolism, and nothing more. 

Inspired by Magritte’s painting, The Son of Man, I take a veristic surrealistic approach to portray Mary and Jesus in the foreground and the nativity scene in the obscure background. The virgin genitalia in her hollowed face symbolises her identity being stolen by the label of a virgin. Jesus is portrayed as a pomegranate, carrying the original biblical symbolisms of sanctity, fertility, and abundance. Here the story speaks through the texts, drawing the readers in, like the power of Scheherazade’s voice, resulting in complete immersion’.

Shania Phillips

What Have You Done? 

2023
Coloured Pencil on Black Paper

'When I think of Sanctuary, I think of home. I think of sitting in the living room with my family, talking about our days and watching TV with the dog curled up on the rug. However, this ignorant bliss never lasts long. A blast of noise from the TV brings devastating news about war, disease and climate change. In the world we live in, sanctuary in the purest sense is impossible; not when people and animals worldwide are suffering at the hands of humanity.

With this artwork, inspired by the artists Antonio Mora and Banksy, I protest deforestation, climate change and animal abuse. I wish to remind people that planet Earth is our sanctuary; I think of its beauty, what it provides and its resilience. However, it is not ours to abuse, it belongs to everyone and everything. We have a duty to protect people, plants, animals, and their habitats; their individual sanctuaries. Rather than destroy them in the name of greed, for agricultural use and commercial logging, eradicating entire species, and destroying the beauty of the planet.

How can sanctuary exist when our home is on fire?’

Korina Massicott Art Prize 2nd Place Winner

Melancholy Medicament

2023
Acrylic on Canvas Board

'Melancholy Medicament depicts my personal battle with depression and examines the dichotomy between my bed as a safe space, and the consequences of attempting to conceal myself from reality. The names alliteration is supposed to induce a sense of calm to emphasise the two cures for depression depicted in this piece: antidepressants and sleep.

I’ve used colour theory to further this idea, with white literally blanketing me from the harsh colours of the world. All aspects of this piece that aren’t painted in white, are those things that I try to run away from; my face representing my inner demons, and the anti-depressants inferring the hardships of reality. The white sheets and pillows of my sanctuary, literally engulf me with the hue’s interpretations - purity, naivety.  Whilst partially obscuring those things in colour that I’m hiding from, depicting my sanctuary’s ability to ease the strain of existence. However, the colour white here is ironic, as being the combination of every colour, the reality of my bed as a true sanctuary is deceitful, as simply hiding from the world presents no solutions to my problems. Instead this neglected time allows for these issues to lurk closer, the more I resist them’.

Mezie Agu

Mmiri duna mu be anyi

2023
Acrylic on Canvas Board

'What if your only way to find sanctuary is through death? This artwork explores this very scenario, except it would be rather narrow minded to just say that the sanctuary portrayed is just death. Depicted here is a drowning slave from the infamous incident of the ‘Igbo Landing’. History has it that in 1803, a group of slaves from modern day Nigeria committed mass suicide in resistance to their slavery. Instead of going to the arrival ports, the Igbo Slaves, under the directive of a captured chief, all jumped into the Dunbar Creek singing to the water spirits to take them back home.

This is not just a story of cowardly death, it is a story of resistance, spirituality, and hope. It is a story of a longing to be free from eternal servitude and a return to their true natural existence. The symbols seen around the water and on the slave’s, collar is Nsibidi - an ancient writing system developed and used by the south-western and south-eastern part of present-day Nigeria. The three symbols represent water, journey and home, conveying the desire to be taken back to their original place of abode’.

Daniel Dickens

QUEER AS FUCK

2023
Oil Pastel

'My artwork depicts a portrait of drag artist Cheddar Gorgeous in a look dedicated to David Bowie. David Bowie was unashamed of his sexuality and became a source of sanctuary for queer young people in the 1980s. Young queer people have been assaulted, abused and thrown out of their homes for being different. Many of us fear to be seen as queer, and keep our true selves locked away.

My piece is dedicated to LGBTQ+ role models who, by being unapologetically themselves, create safe spaces for young queer people. Being overtly different in a society that condemns anything outside of the norm makes a statement, it teaches young people that they do not need to hide their identities. It challenges homophobic views they may have heard; it provides them with a sanctuary of love and acceptance.

“QUEER AS FUCK”. I hope you feel the anger behind these words. Historically seen as an insult, queer is a label our community uses proudly; we say it with pride as an act of rebellion. We will continue to shout about our queerness, because queer is beautiful, and I want young LGBTQ+ people to know that. I want to be their sanctuary, as others were for me.'

Puya Mirkarimi

Fighting for Woman, Life, Freedom

2023
Oil paint on Raw Canvas

'"Woman, Life, Freedom" is the rallying cry of the Iranian uprising that was sparked by the death of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini after she was detained and beaten by the morality police for improper hijab. Since her death, the Iranian regime has arrested thousands and killed hundreds in an attempt to silence dissent. 

This artwork depicts a scene of protesters fighting for their rights in the city of Mahabad. The protesters' only sanctuary is a barricade that they have built to shield themselves from the bullets of the security forces. On the bricks, the names of some of the people who have been killed at the hands of the regime are written in Persian.  

No matter what words I use to describe the regime's brutality, a reader with no personal connection to Iran won't feel the same anger and sorrow that I do. Although we, the Iranian diaspora, have found sanctuaries for ourselves abroad, our minds are tied to the struggle in Iran. Many of us feel isolated in our sanctuaries. Our role is to amplify the voices of our friends in Iran and ask the world to listen to their message of revolution.'

Azaria Mali

Where the Tea Brews

2023
Digital Art, on paper

'My artwork was created from a familial perspective, drawing inspiration from my Jamaican-British upbringing. The phrase "home is where the tea brews" was comforting in my childhood, referring to a cup of English breakfast tea, or any hot drink. My submission represents the idea of peace in the chaos of life, it depicts steam rising from a cup of tea, with the smoke from a chimney also rising, symbolizing the interconnectedness of physical sanctuary (home as a secure place) and the emotional safe space that a cup of tea can provide. The cracks on the mug represent the imperfections of life, but even in the midst of these difficulties, the comfort of a warm drink at home remains. Although tea would not be able to brew in a cup with cracks, the presence of home makes it possible.

The use of a digital image speaks to the false sense of ease that can be found in this type of sanctuary and the façade that we often blanket our emotions in. I do not believe in perfect peace or tranquillity, but rather that sanctuary is the peace within the chaos, not outside of it.’

Rolands Barkans

Nostalgia for Peace 

2022
Coloured Pencil on Paper Board

'Sanctuaries provide one with a sense of comfort, a safety nest. This piece visualises the way in which my favourite memory of my grandmother’s garden is slowly fading. Sanctuaries are sacred places, however subject to erosion. Eventually, all we are left with is an image of the past from which the colour is gradually fading, but the emotions that it invokes are just as vivid.

Visiting my Latvian grandmother for the first time after the COVID-19 pandemic made many personal memories resurface. Her vast garden filled with pulchritudinous flowers was my childhood sanctuary; a comforting natural environment perfect for a child full of curiosity. Her sunflowers were my favourite. Every year I would rush to see whether they had grown taller than I. The title of my artwork is about reminiscing over simpler times. Times from childhood. I reflect on this faded sunflower, feeling nostalgic for peace.

Whilst creating this piece I had these feelings in mind in relation to the war in Ukraine; the sunflower being its national flower. Countries represent a unique sanctuary that’s home to millions. The faded flower also depicts the irrevocable destruction resulting from war. Nonetheless, the flower’s fixation on the sun is a symbol of hope’.

Aaliyah Johnson-Mudd

Hiraeth 

2021
Short Film

'The Welsh word Hiraeth, describes a unique blend of nostalgia and homesickness, and likewise, my film attempts to convey the feeling of longing after a home that doesn’t exist. I started filming these clips around the first time I was disowned by my family (at 14 years old) and have continued collecting clips throughout my rehoming, homelessness and the Covid pandemic. Until I found sanctuary within the first place I have found Stability; Durham.

I have lived in many places that are far from ‘homely’. I wanted to be able to show others my story, away from pity or disgust, and towards the beauty I have found in everyday life, that has provided sanctuary against all odds. Each clip is from somewhere I have felt close to finding sanctuary, in places I have lived or with people I have lived with, and the bittersweet collation of scenes and sequences are incredibly meaningful to me. This piece is exploration of my personal perception of the ephemeral nature of home and the impermanence of physical place in comparison with the ever-present beauty of life’.