Mead Fellowship Awards 2026

Bhawana Jain

MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins

Collective Breath

Collective Breath is an embodied artistic research project that develops a collective performance methodology through the Sulur, a bamboo wind instrument and kind of flute associated with the Gond community in Chhattisgarh, India. The project brings together breath, movement and sound as a shared form of embodied knowledge. Bhawana will work with the Sular as a living practice that can be learned, moved with, listened to and reimagined within contemporary performance.

The performance will involve 10 artists paid experience in experimental rehearsals, embodied sound practice and collective movement. For audiences, the final exhibition will function as an immersive sound and movement environment. The project will also result in 20 Sulur instruments, movement guides, workshop handouts, professional documentation (visual and audio), a 40-page publication, audience postcards and an online archive.

It was a privilege to present the project, and reading the panel’s feedback genuinely means so much to me. I’m especially happy that the performance and the making process came across so clearly. I’m very excited to develop the work further with the support of the Fellowship and to see where the process leads. Thank you again for your encouragement and for believing in this project. I’m really looking forward to the journey ahead and to sharing the final performance with you.

Check out their work here.

Hanna Wentz

MA Contemporary Photography; Practices and Philosophies, Central Saint Martins

The Surface Keeps Score: Mapping the Photograph in UV-Ink Relief

Hanna will produce a new body of 10–12 large-scale photographic works using up to 50 layers of UV-cured ink, transforming photographs from flat images into tactile, topographical surfaces that record the processes through which they are made.

Starting with ultra-high-resolution pixel-shift images, Hanna will generate mapped digital files to determine the placement of ink across successive printing passes. The project will culminate in a one-week public exhibition at Four Corners Gallery in East London. Hanna will also write a research paper for submission to a peer-reviewed journal, articulating the conceptual and technical framework of this printing methodology and contributing its findings to wider academic and interdisciplinary research.

Hanna Wentz is an artist and researcher working across experimental photography, computational imaging and material processes. A recent graduate of MA Contemporary Photography; Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins, her practice investigates the technical systems through which photographic images are produced, processed and made visible. Her current research explores industrial UV printing as an artistic medium, using successive layers of cured ink to translate digital image information into tactile surfaces.

I’m thrilled to have been awarded the Mead Fellowship, which marks the first major investment in my artistic research into industrial UV printing. The Fellowship will unlock access to cutting-edge commercial technologies that are rarely available to individual artists, allowing me to experiment at a scale and level of technical complexity that has previously been out of reach. Photography has always evolved through experimentation with new technologies, and I’m excited to continue that history by pushing UV printing beyond its conventional applications and investigating its possibilities as a fine art medium.

Check out their work here.

Leatile Malets Monthe

MA Documentary Film, London College of Communications

As Below, So Above

Looking for traces of the future, in the past.

With more and more people moving away from their homelands in search of a better future, filmmaker and documentary artist Leatile Malets Monthe decided to return home to Botswana to reveal the daily rhythms, dreams, and frustrations of a community staring into an uncertain future. Through experimental and traditional documentary film practice, his project uses the town of Selebi-Phikwe as a microcosm to explore the social and structural conditions that make daily life in Botswana feel like regression or progression?

Ultimately, “As Below,So Above” is a visual research and documentary exhibition project exploring contemporary post-independence realities in Africa through the lens of a former mining town in Botswana. Positioned between documentary filmmaking and contemporary archive-building, this body of work is a reflection on resource extraction, family histories, human development, belonging, identity, and collective futures.

I am incredibly pleased to be selected as one of the recipients of the 2026 MEAD Fellowship. The award provides an opportunity for me to further develop as an artist and expand my practice as filmmaker into installation and gallery mediums - something I have always wanted to do. As a Mead Fellow, I am excited to produce a project that fosters interdisciplinary conversations and advances the non-fiction storytelling landscape in Botswana.

Check out their work here.

Xiaoyu Liu and Zhirou Chen

MA Character Animation, Central Saint Martins

Farewell, Raven

Farewell, Raven is a 6-8-minute 2D animated short film, created by Zhirou Chen and Xiaoyu Liu, exploring our evolving relationships with artificial intelligence.

The film begins with a funeral for “Raven” — a name shared by both an elderly man and the AI system that provided comfort during his final days. The story then moves backwards in time, following three characters connected by Raven AI: the AI trainer who shaped its personality, a young woman who formed an emotional bond with it, and the old man who relied on it for companionship. The film asks a simple question: Why are we turning to AI for emotional support — and what happens when it disappears?

Zhirou Chen (Director) is a visual storyteller working across comics and animation, with experience in independent and commercial 2D production. His work focuses on contemporary emotional experiences, and he leads the visual development, storyboarding, and animation direction of Farewell, Raven.

Xiaoyu Liu (Creative Producer) has experience in developing and delivering animated projects across academic and industry contexts. She leads script development, production coordination, and project management for Farewell, Raven.

We are incredibly honoured to receive the Mead Fellowship Award. Thank you, UAL! This support means a lot to us, as we have always wanted to tell a story exploring humanity’s evolving relationships with AI, and more importantly, our connections with one another. We are thrilled to bring Farewell, Raven to life!