The Batsford Prize
My entry for the 2019 Batsford Prize, entitled: “Being Human”. A series of 6 illustrated portraits with my take on this theme.
The Batsford prize is an annual competition for aspiring artists and designers, allowing those studying applied Art and Textiles, Fine Art, and Illustration to show their work. The theme for the 2019 Batsford Prize was ‘being human’, which we could interpret however we liked.
I was intrigued by the Japanese principle of Wabi-Sabi, which is the belief that the beauty of any object lies in it’s imperfections, such as mistakes or damages, which become features of the design and not mistakes. This lead me to discover the art of Kintsugi, which is the art of repairing broken pottery with gold, making it a feature not a mistake.
“Beauty is a study in contrasts, as something can only be considered as beautiful if it has a correlate amount of imperfections.”
I wanted to look at the way this could be applied to people and the way we perceive imperfections, especially from a wester perspective on art that upholds symmetry and perfection as part of its core values.
The portraits were created using acrylic paint, with gold leaf and gold ink to highlight the “imperfections” on each portrait.
The series of 6 portraits show a range of physical as well as some hidden imperfections. Two portraits depict Vitiligo a skin pigmentation condition, freckles, ageing, mental health and the stigmatisation of male vulnerability.