::
Struggle :: May
2005
Winner
Author:
Dr Rachel Morris
Title: Beaten
Medium:
Digitally 'painted' photograph
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 |
click
the winning image to enlarge |
Brief Bio: Rachel
Morris has
been one of Europe's leading experts on laws relating
to Gypsies and other nomads. Since 2002 Rachel has
been a nomadic herself: a Welsh-Canadian currently
teaching in South Korea.
For examples of her
writing and photography
go to:
www.mediabistro.com/RachelMorris.
Review: Rachel Morris has created a work
that is at turns disturbing, beautiful, and challenging.
An elderly
Korean women in Andong, Korea, crushes dried roots
into powders. She is permanently bent double.
Rachel comments: 'Struggle' refers both to her
life as I imagine it, and my ethical dilemmas about
photographing strangers without their knowledge.
Turning photos into 'paintings'
beats my sense of guilt. But should it?'
This real
person, on a real street, who suffers
each
and
every day
is of far more value
than
our
relative and insignificant ponderings on the niceties
of the image: the colours, the textures, the form
and
line. Yet without these qualities, the image would
be less powerful, less emotive, less affecting.
Rachel's work 'Beaten' is not
a 'pleasure', but more of a struggle of conscience
for the viewer, and a reflection of the struggle
of one woman who represents countless
others.
|
Highly Commended
Author:
Dermot Finn
Title: Bits of Sorrow
Medium:
Digital Illustration
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 |
click
the image to enlarge |
Brief Bio: Dermot
Finn is an undergraduate student in his final year
of study in the National College Of Art, Dublin,
Ireland. Here he discovered a love for traditional
printmaking techniques; etching, engraving etc, as
well as digital art techniques;
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator etc.
AbleStable Listing: Dermot
Finn
Review: Dermot's dark illustration 'Bits
of Sorrow' shows three gas masked figures grappling
with a fourth anonymous figure.
The scene is Orwellian in its threatening dominance. The muted colours support
the overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia and menace.
The skeletal heads of the dominant figures might be viewed of as minions of
the
grim
reaper.
Here's an image that encapsulates
physical struggle and brutality. Three against one, it seems the central figure
doesn't
have a chance. Outnumbered, he is doomed.
Is this a representation of political injustice, tyrannical assertion, or an
undercover
crime?
No
matter
what
the context, struggle is everywhere. |
