04-04-2014, 02:16 PM
The Arts University Bournemouth in the UK has announced
five talented students from India as winners of an art competition with an emotive topic and some exciting prizes. The competition was called “Who are you in a gender defined world?†and asked school students across India to enter one of global society’s key debates through the medium of art. Students were asked to create work that looked at their identities in the context of gender attitudes in society. Winners are in line to receive scholarships to study at the UK’s highest ranked creative specialist university (AUB) and to see their artwork ‘supersized’ on 48 sheet hoardings across the UK. The twenty-two best entries will also be featured at the ‘Gender Defined World Exhibition†at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi on 2nd May, 2014.
Muzammil Hussain, Richa Jain and Upam Lakhar from Dehradun are among the top five winners, along with Akshita Wadhwana from New Delhi and Kuhel Raha from West Bengal. Richa and Muzammil will both receive the potentially career-making international publicity associated with having their work featured on huge hoarding adverts across UK. Both will also be invited to visit the UK to view their work on the hoardings from an open top bus! Muzammil will receive a full scholarship for the first year of a BA or Foundation course at AUB. All of the other winners will receive scholarships of £1000 each.
Kuheli Raha (18), whose work tackled issues of female infanticide head-on said, “India carries a long history of son preference. Hence, the spread of ultrasound scans in India and the abortion of female foetuses. I wanted to bring this issue on a global front and now I feel my purpose has been served. I am delighted to be raising awareness about this subject and delighted that my art work is being recognized internationally in this wayâ€.
Richa Jain (17) added, “Gender issues have always been a part and parcel of this society we live in. No matter how modern or advanced we may call ourselves, we girls still have to bear the brunt of it some or the other way. My illustration shows that a girl may be rooted and cultured but yet deserves to spread her wings and break free.â€
The winners had to go through a long selection process and their work was scrutinized by a panel of judges, comprising of eminent personalities in the creative field from India as well as internationally. Meanwhile, the artworks delivered by the finalists were published on the university’s Facebook page and website for a ‘public vote’ that engaged nearly 30,000 people.
Professor Stuart Bartholomew, Principal & Vice Chancellor, Arts University Bournemouth had this to say: “The debate in India surrounding gender attitudes in society has grown rapidly over the past eighteen months and we have followed it with interest. We hoped that by placing the competition in the context of both introspection and gender, the work to come out of it would contribute to the debate in quite an interesting way. We are delighted to have been proved correct in that regard, the work is high caliber, confident, emotive and in some cases, controversial. Aside from that, the idea behind the competition was to give young people a platform from which to launch their dream careers in the global creative industries. The publicity associated with having your work ‘supersized’ on huge hoardings across the UK is significant and exciting. And we very much hope that the scholarships on offer will help these talented young artists to access the education that they want.â€
Besides the top five winners, judges have also chosen a group of twenty-two finalists out of the 100 best entries, whose work will now be exhibited at the “Gender Defined World†Exhibition to be held in New Delhi on 1st and 2nd May, 2014. The exhibition will be hosted by hosted by UNESCO’s Kabir Sheikh, who is also a governor of AUB, as well as Professor Stuart Bartholomew and the competition creator Mr. Simon Pride, Head of Marketing at AUB.
five talented students from India as winners of an art competition with an emotive topic and some exciting prizes. The competition was called “Who are you in a gender defined world?†and asked school students across India to enter one of global society’s key debates through the medium of art. Students were asked to create work that looked at their identities in the context of gender attitudes in society. Winners are in line to receive scholarships to study at the UK’s highest ranked creative specialist university (AUB) and to see their artwork ‘supersized’ on 48 sheet hoardings across the UK. The twenty-two best entries will also be featured at the ‘Gender Defined World Exhibition†at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi on 2nd May, 2014.
Muzammil Hussain, Richa Jain and Upam Lakhar from Dehradun are among the top five winners, along with Akshita Wadhwana from New Delhi and Kuhel Raha from West Bengal. Richa and Muzammil will both receive the potentially career-making international publicity associated with having their work featured on huge hoarding adverts across UK. Both will also be invited to visit the UK to view their work on the hoardings from an open top bus! Muzammil will receive a full scholarship for the first year of a BA or Foundation course at AUB. All of the other winners will receive scholarships of £1000 each.
Kuheli Raha (18), whose work tackled issues of female infanticide head-on said, “India carries a long history of son preference. Hence, the spread of ultrasound scans in India and the abortion of female foetuses. I wanted to bring this issue on a global front and now I feel my purpose has been served. I am delighted to be raising awareness about this subject and delighted that my art work is being recognized internationally in this wayâ€.
Richa Jain (17) added, “Gender issues have always been a part and parcel of this society we live in. No matter how modern or advanced we may call ourselves, we girls still have to bear the brunt of it some or the other way. My illustration shows that a girl may be rooted and cultured but yet deserves to spread her wings and break free.â€
The winners had to go through a long selection process and their work was scrutinized by a panel of judges, comprising of eminent personalities in the creative field from India as well as internationally. Meanwhile, the artworks delivered by the finalists were published on the university’s Facebook page and website for a ‘public vote’ that engaged nearly 30,000 people.
Professor Stuart Bartholomew, Principal & Vice Chancellor, Arts University Bournemouth had this to say: “The debate in India surrounding gender attitudes in society has grown rapidly over the past eighteen months and we have followed it with interest. We hoped that by placing the competition in the context of both introspection and gender, the work to come out of it would contribute to the debate in quite an interesting way. We are delighted to have been proved correct in that regard, the work is high caliber, confident, emotive and in some cases, controversial. Aside from that, the idea behind the competition was to give young people a platform from which to launch their dream careers in the global creative industries. The publicity associated with having your work ‘supersized’ on huge hoardings across the UK is significant and exciting. And we very much hope that the scholarships on offer will help these talented young artists to access the education that they want.â€
Besides the top five winners, judges have also chosen a group of twenty-two finalists out of the 100 best entries, whose work will now be exhibited at the “Gender Defined World†Exhibition to be held in New Delhi on 1st and 2nd May, 2014. The exhibition will be hosted by hosted by UNESCO’s Kabir Sheikh, who is also a governor of AUB, as well as Professor Stuart Bartholomew and the competition creator Mr. Simon Pride, Head of Marketing at AUB.