London Students Prize 2020

This piece is entitled Ayahuasca, which is a pharmaceutical drug that allows you to havean out of body experience, therefore representing a double exposure effect in my painting.The impact of Ayahuasca is the opportunity to endure a double life where you canfundamentally escape within yourself. Ayahuasca is symbolic of prehistoric escapism. Iwanted to capture this because I found it a unique way of escapism.

Which is actually quitecommon within society as many people have different ways of dealing with their mentalhealth issues, and Ayahuasca is a historic remedy for escaping reality. This entire piecewas done with oil paint which was a medium I thoroughly enjoyed as it allowed me toexpress the depth of colour.

This piece is inspired by my great grandmother who came over on Empire Windrush fromSt Lucia to Britain. She had to work as a cleaner to support her family, despite being atrained hairdresser. During her 50 years as a maid, she was verbally and physicallyabused for being black. When I asked her what she remembers most clearly from thattime, she said The Rolling Stone’s song ‘Brown Sugar’; a popular song singing aboutenslaved black women being raped by their slave owners, discussing young rape victimsand their ‘taste’. She said that the song being played over and over again on the radiomade her feel sick. After researching the song, it became clear to me as to why: theexploitation of black people was being marketed, without fully understanding the traumaticeffect it has on them, who are stuck in the same cycle of oppression as their ancestorswere. The floor has a reflection, to show the mirroring of the racism my grandmotherexperienced and that of the generations before her.

I have chosen to draw on the MDFboard as it’s base colour lends itself to the skin tone of my grandmother, whilst not makingit the focus of the piece. By having the brown hue as the base, it represents how, despiteblack migrants’ influence and ground work for Britain being massive, they are still treatedhorribly. The black and white tonal aspect represents the divide of the two races. I chose tofaintly write the words on the wall’s background to show that the normalisation of racism isplastered all over Britain, yet is treated as if it is barely there. The chosen font mimics moretraditional handwriting, that educated higher class men, such as slave owners, would have,showing that their inflicted oppression still affects people to this day despite slavery beingabolished hundreds of years ago. This piece was made to not only celebrate mygrandmother’s strength and story, but to highlight the issues within society’s complacencyof racism.

I decided to make this piece as I love to merge my love of botanicals and nature withtextiles. The meaning of it being the Calathea and it’s link to ‘turning over a new leaf’ ties inwith my own life as it was done at a time of change – leaving secondary school and movinghome when my parents divorced, I felt it was a signifier of fresh change and a lightbreaking through the shadows. I embroidered it using a punch needle and it’s all made ofreused materials because that’s part of my values as an artist. My mama collects thingsshe’s found thrown out and so the frame is from her, the wool is too. I dedicated the pieceto her because she’s been part of my journey of change the most and supported me whenI decided to pursue my art foundation degree.

An detailed acrylic painting inspired by decayed fruit and vegetables

This is a physical recording of his untimely death in the hands of institutional racism aimedto evoke anger and embarrassment of our flawed society.

After much research of Carravagio, Rembrandt Sara somewhat branched away from theseartists taking with her what she had learned. It creates a kind of muted post impressionistpainting, a very matter of fact pose.

Using a drawing from direct observation the image was then simplified and developed intoa painting.

This image was in response to the Covid pandemic. When we were sent home and the country was put into lockdown, I continued making work and created this self portrait of my experience.

This is my second piece of vector art. It is a portrait of my mother.

Experimenting with Dada techniques through the process of collaging, taking inspirationfrom Renne Magritte’s paintings.

Biro Pen drawing on white paper. Inspired by Antony Gormley’s ‘LostHorizon’

My cousin sleeping peacefully, a moment of peace and calmness.

Drawn from a photograph taken by the artist of a secondworld war pill box.

This painting is a portrait showing three expressions of my inner emotions. I chose toupload this composition as it displays my ability to observe the structure of the face. Thethree portraits have been created by using oils, acrylic and water colour. I matched themediums and technique of painting to the emotion. For example, the middle portraitrendered in oil paint represents contemplation and serenity which I achieved by layeringsoft brush strokes. This differs from the first portrait as it symbolises anger and frustration.Here, I used a combination of acrylic and oil paint to create surface texture. The loosebackground contrasts with the structured painted portraits, which creates the illusion ofdifferent emotions floating in space. l like the fluidity of this piece and how the compositionfits together.

This portrait painting was inspired by the perception of women’s self image and howsocietal beauty ideals affect it. The subject in the painting is turning away from the viewerand is allowing herself to be observed for who she is naturally which is an attempt tochallenge these ideals.

A portrait inspired by the emblematic nature of Renaissance artwork intertwined with amodern interpretation of femininity. The subjects, two women, are depicted gazing into thedistance holding a shared pomegranate in their hands. The seated figure wears a dress Ihad embroidered, it’s pattern an abstract imitation of the pomegranate’s shape, contrastingthe traditional form of the fruit both girls hold. Throughout history the fruit has been asymbol of fertility and life and in the absence of any masculine presence, this portraitexplores the delicacy in the power of female expression.

A series of photographs inspired by the theme The Human Condition,The portraits express the joys and the complexities of being a teenager in contemporary society.

The photoshoot was inspired by the iconic pre-raphelite image ‘Ophelia’. It has anotherwordly quality that is evocative of Tarkovsky’s polaroids as well.

Portrait on a photograph of a homeless man, the idea behind the drawing is to focus onkey detail and to capture the amazing gaze of the man’s eyes.