We received a very high standard of creative and critical writing submissions for Student Writing Competition: New Voices Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022 – making our judging responsibilities challenging and thrilling! We judged anonymously, in the first instance, before noting entries were from regions across the UK and Europe, and from a wide range of disciplines, including Photography, Creative Writing, History of Art and Music. Here are the winners announced by the judges Laura Robertson (creative writing) and Mariama Attah (critical writing).
The winners in creative writing are:
Mai Hem, BA Photography / Photojournalism & Documentary Photography, The University Of Bolton, for ‘Break The Window‘, which took a highly impactful and apt interpretation of the double-exposure photography of Superimposition (UK-HK), by artists Hin Nam Fong, Melanie King, Samson Pak Hang Wong (Power of Place). We thought Mai Hem’s moving short story spoke to the deeply personal politics of poverty in the UK right now; what the experience of having to paint over cracks and mold does to one’s health, confidence, and self-esteem.
Sarita Coronato, UAL Level 3 Art & Design Diploma, The City of Liverpool College, for ‘Fwd: Home‘, a poem responding to the letter exchange of Re: Home by artists: Johannes Pretorius, Lucy Saggers, Iris Shum (Power of Place). Coronato’s heart-rending migrant story attempts to communicate what ‘home’ means, and the uncertainty, fear and grief in leaving everything behind.
Gina Prat Lilly, MA Writing, Royal College of Art, for ‘In which the body is a boxer and language is clay: A Manifesto‘, a creative critique of Omid Asadi’s film ‘Scuffle Tussle Struggle’ (Ways of Being Together). Lilly’s experimental form feels incredibly physical in the reading, pulling out the associations between art, clay, language and touch, and the pliant nature of word and gesture.
Ellie Duffy, BA English and Creative Writing, The University of Bolton, for short story ‘Life in Black and White‘, on Superimposition (UK-HK), by artists Hin Nam Fong, Melanie King, Samson Pak Hang Wong (Power of Place). Duffy has crafted a delightful, surprising drama that delivers on form, whilst ruminating about the extraordinary ways in which our lives had to change around the pandemic. There is a strong sense of life stripped bare, and art perhaps being one way to hope, reconnect and live again.
The winners in critical writing are:
Joseph Glover, Photography MA, The University of the West of England, for “Our Tongues are Different, Our Struggles the Same.A Review of Omid Asadi’s ‘Scuffle Tussle Struggle”.
Beatrice Cera, Master Photography & Society, Royal Academy of Arts, for “On Artistic Practice As A Possibility For Co-Existence. Critical review for Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022”.
Beatrice Cera and Joseph Glover both approached this writing commission with a considered and considerate take on Peer to Peer UK/ HK. Their writing styles are engaging and work well in prompting a set of questions and ideas for readers to pursue.
Beatrice’s text introduces the importance of collaboration and how this, as an artistic practice, can enable chaotic, unexpected, positive connections and outcomes that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred. Joseph’s use of metaphor with a focus on creative uses of shared and distinct languages is an insightful take demonstrating a clear grasp of the project and its ambitions.
Both texts were impressive and captured the spirit of Peer to Peer UK/ HK.
We will be publishing winners’ works on Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022 website in the following weeks.