UAL alumni shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2022
- Written byEleanor Harvey
- Published date 20 June 2022
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The Aesthetica Art Prize 2022 celebrates contemporary art in all its forms, and this year's shortlist includes 4 UAL graduates. The artists are graduates from 3 UAL Colleges; Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins and Wimbledon College of Arts.
The awards, which are now in their fifteenth year, are open to all practitioners at any level. Submissions are reviewed by a jury of key curators and gallerists from across the globe.
All shortlisted artists' work will be on exhibition at York Art Gallery. Artists also receive publication in Future Now: 100 Contemporary Artists, editorial coverage in Aesthetica Magazine, as well as a profile on the Aesthetica website. The winning artist receives £10,000 prize money; whilst the Emerging Artist receives £1,000.
Shortlisted UAL graduates
- Akihiro Boujoh (2016 MA Fine Art, Wimbledon College of Arts)
- Elise Guillaume (2015 Art & Design Foundation, Central Saint Martins)
- K Young (Central Saint Martins)
- Sara Choudhrey (2010, MA Digital Arts, Camberwell College of Arts)
About the shortlisted artists
Akihiro Boujoh
Boujoh’s multi-dimensional work encompasses sculpture, installation and photography to explore the emerging chasm between nature, environment, and human activities in everyday life. We seem to ignore – or perhaps we don’t recognise – that nature, the environment and humankind are intertwined.
Elise Guillaume
Guillaume is a Belgian artist and filmmaker whose work explores our complex relationship with nature, which has become increasingly imbalanced. Interested in the connections within our (eco)systems, she uses multiple screens to question what it means to be human in a time of crisis.
K Young
K Young’s methodology is based around social constructs and gender identity: examining spatial representation, form, and the notion of time and place. Using appropriated and found photographic imagery – taken from second-hand books and magazines – K Young makes physical interventions with a knife to alter and subvert visual codes and conventions. Unplanned, chance arrangements are juxtaposed and spliced together before being ‘re-photographed’. They are then presented back as a semblance of their original form, challenging viewers to determine what’s ‘real’ and what’s been constructed, and ask: who owns images?
Sara Choudhrey
Themes of space, place, heritage and identity are explored in Sara Choudhrey’s work. She conducts studies in pattern, colour, light and texture, whilst referencing various historical collections, archives and architectural sites. Through both her research and artworks, Choudhrey raises the question of how a hybrid art practice can evolve in affinity with historical narratives.
