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The Platform Graduate Award

The Platform Graduate Award is an initiative to support emerging graduate artistic talent to further their practice following graduation. Established in 2012, the award includes a £2,500 bursary and mentoring, and is awarded to an outstanding graduate from one of seventeen participating regional higher education partners.

The initiative is led by CVAN South East (Contemporary Visual Arts Network South East) and is a partnership between five galleries: Aspex in Portsmouth, De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, Modern Art Oxford and Turner Contemporary in Margate. Following an exhibition and events programme across the five participating galleries, an artist from each gallery is nominated for the award.

Platform focuses on artists in the first year after graduation; a critical time when the loss of the university support structure and financial pressures can test an artist’s dedication to their practice. For the participating galleries, this is a way to keep in touch with the most promising emerging practice, and with higher education institutions. More broadly, the scheme aims to stimulate artist networks outside of London and encourage artists to stay in the South East region.

Image: The Platform Graduate Award 2017 Announcement © photo Stu Allsopp. Guest selector, Artist Rosalind Nashashibi and Platform Graduate Award 2017 Winner Sophie Barber.

Platform Artists

Winner

Josephine Rock

University for the Creative Arts - UCA Farnham

Aspex

Josephine Rock's interdisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, film, performance, text, and photography. Her working methodology is research-led, like that of an investigative journalist, pursuing wide-ranging concerns from the amplification of power relations connecting the body and technology within online communities of ‘Doxy Spotters,’ to the co-option of mindfulness by the US army.
Exhibitions include Fully Mad And Completely Credible (Brewery Tap, Folkestone), When Our Lips Speak Together (James Hockey Gallery, Farnham) and Prefix is Post (Lewisham Arthouse, London). She has been shortlisted for the Woon Foundation Prize 2018.

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Nominees

Luke Dawes Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Godith Hawkins University of Hastings De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Ronan Porter University for the Creative Arts, UCA Canterbury Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Abbie Schug University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website

Other Exhibiting Artists

Carol Abell Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Kane Applegate Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website
Fiona Baanah-Jones Winchester School of Art - University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Simon Beasley University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
Natasha Dalziel Winchester School of Art - University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Hannah Davies University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
Rosie Gatford University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
Rachel Mortlock Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Annie Murrells University for the Creative Arts - UCA Farnham Aspex Visit Website
Carl Tai Thompson University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
George Waring Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website
Tasneem Arif University of Brighton De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Katie Needham University of Brighton De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Oscar Yasamee University of Hastings De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Maddalena Zadra University of Brighton De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Bethany Holden University of Bedfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Elizabeth Leonard University of Hertfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Travis O’Connor University of Hertfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Annie Le Santo Oxford Brookes University Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Louise Povey University of Reading Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Lalita Bailey University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Kuro D Black University for the Creative Arts, UCA Canterbury Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Kaushikee Gupta University for the Creative Arts, UCA Canterbury Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Holly Jones Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Little-Blood University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Ty Locke University for the Creative Arts - UCA Canterbury Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Amanda Nsubuga University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Ida Shakespeare Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Winner

Sophie Barber

University of Brighton at Sussex Coast College Hastings

De La Warr Pavilion

Sophie paints intuitively, exploring a figurative language painting on large-scale un-stretched canvas using oil paint as her medium. She does not plan, but goes to the canvas and explores images from her mind or images that she has absorbed from the everyday. The process is searching for a balance of arresting images and making them work together in the painting. For Sophie each thing in the painting is equally important; they can’t exist without each other. Sophie is conscious of the space she leaves empty on the canvas, as to her the empty space is just as important as the elements she has painted, and see it as the form to make the things she has painted live together.

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Nominees

Elizabeth Cahill University of Hertfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Nathan Caldecott Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Stephen Foy-Philp Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Svetlana Ochkovskaya Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website

Other Exhibiting Artists

Christopher Beattie University for the Creative Arts - UCA Farnham Aspex Visit Website
Edward Carey Winchester School of Art – University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
India Coles Winchester School of Art – University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Pietra Marello University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
George Marguet-Pew Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Archie Munro University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
Vanessa Omer University for the Creative Arts - UCA Farnham Aspex Visit Website
Hannah Stockem Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website
Vytaute Trijonyte University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
Fay Turner Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Morgan Ward University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
Amy Wilson University of Brighton at Sussex Coast College Hastings De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
The 13 Person Collective University of Brighton De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Dominyka Barauskaite University of Hertfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Christopher Daubney University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website
Simon Harutyunyan University of Bedfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Freddie Davies Oxford Brookes University Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Laura Nicholson University of Reading Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Adina Breden-Thorpe University for the Creative Arts – UCA Canterbury Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Edward Byard Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Tayler Goatier University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Luiza Jordan University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Kieran Rook University for the Creative Arts – UCA Canterbury Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Janine-Chantal Weger University for the Creative Arts – UCA Canterbury Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Winner

Daniel Owusu

University of Kent

Turner Contemporary

Daniel spent his early childhood years living in Ghana and moved to Britain at the age of 7. He has always had a keen interest in making and inventing things. Daniel’s work is deep rooted in his passion and love for melody, rhythm and film. As a child, his grandmother always urged him to go to the front and sing at church whilst the pastor called for testimonials. He describes these moments as ‘pressing toothpaste from the bottom’. His practice combines memory with an investigation of the processes and legacy of colonialism. For the University of Kent degree show, Daniel staged a performance which juxtaposed the spatial features of a tennis court and an exam room, inviting visitors to come and sit an exam.

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Nominees

Sian Hutchins Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Eleanor Pearch University of Brighton De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Olive Sanderson University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website
Nacheal Catnott University of Reading Modern Art Oxford Visit Website

Other Exhibiting Artists

Leandro Alenfel Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Kate Aries Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website
Sophie Bownes University for the Creative Arts - UCA Farnham Aspex Visit Website
Charlotte Bradley University for the Creative Arts - UCA Farnham Aspex Visit Website
Krasimira Butseva University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
Mia Delve Winchester School of Art - University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Ellie Man Winchester School of Art - University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Anca-Ioana Pirvu University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
Consuelo Simpson University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
Gabrielle Swales Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website
Krista Torrens University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
MMRDR University of Brighton at Sussex Coast College Hastings De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Eleanor Pearch University of Brighton De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Megan Drury University of Bedfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Emma Hardy Buckinghamshire New University MK Gallery Visit Website
Ikran Abdille University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website
Elizabeth Holmes Oxford Brookes University Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Mirren Kessling Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Kayleigh Baker University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Jessica Grønlund Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
George Morl University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Sariya Suwannakarn University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Mas Weeb Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Winner

Tom Heatley

University of Brighton

De La Warr Pavilion

Tom Heatley creates his work as a means to resolve a personal uncertainty in his choice to pursue photography over sculpture. The presentation of his images moves away from traditional photographic framing, employing found materials, balance and suspension as a means to display his work.

Beginning life as an ethnographic study of the University of Brighton’s sculpture department, Heatley’s series of images, The Sculptors, illuminates the artist’s three dimensional inclinations through the documentation of incidental sculptures, still-lives and staged constructions. His images are displayed alongside objects and materials collected from the sculpture studio, presenting them as artefacts that reference the original location where the image was captured.

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Nominees

Amelia Marsh Winchester School of Art – University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Deborah Mills Buckinghamshire New University MK Gallery Visit Website
Emily Willey University of Reading Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
David Vargas Quiroga University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Other Exhibiting Artists

Paul Benham University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
Holly Childs Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website
Ejaz Christilano Winchester School of Art – University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Lina Ivanova University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
Julia Keenan University for the Creative Arts - UCA Farnham Aspex Visit Website
Nathan Klein University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
Tina Lane Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website
Gemma McGrath University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
Emma McKinney Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Jasmine O’Hare Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Cathryn Quail University for the Creative Arts - UCA Farnham Aspex Visit Website
Celeste Barker Sussex Coast College Hastings De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Naomi Holdbrook Sussex Coast College Hastings De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Holly Jarvis University of Brighton De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Isobel Owen University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website
Emma Richardson University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website
Alex Wickenden University of Bedfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Laurien Ash Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Susannah Canning Oxford Brookes University Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Ida Cholewinska Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Ben Crawford University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Maria Fukerova Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Evdokia Georgiou University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Laura Hepworth University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Layla Moore University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Nadia Perrotta University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Lois Proctor Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Winner

Sophie Dixon

University of Kent

Turner Contemporary

Sophie Dixon is a cross-disciplinary artist. Her recent work uses Virtual and Mixed Reality as part of her continued enquiry into how we construct narratives about the past. Less interested in portraying an historic truth, her work explores the connections between events across time – an attempt to open up the spaces between the experience of an event, and our later interpretations of it.

Sophie has an MA (Hons) from the Netherlands Film Academy and a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Kent University. She has undertaken residencies in the UK and Europe and has exhibited in solo and group shows, including at the EYE Film Museum, Amsterdam, and the Turner Contemporary.

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Nominees

Samuel Lloyd University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
Izabela Brudkiewicz University of Brighton De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Holger Kilumets University of Bedfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Rachel Minott University of Reading Modern Art Oxford Visit Website

Other Exhibiting Artists

Peter Driver Winchester School of Art – University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Chris Green Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website
Brad Kenny University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
Robbie Lowden University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
George Michels University of Portsmouth Aspex Visit Website
Steve Moberly Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Kirsty Smith Winchester School of Art – University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Robin James Sullivan Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Emily Taylor Southampton Solent University Aspex Visit Website
Art Fare: The Shop De La Warr Pavilion Visit Website
Jacob Austin University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website
Sophie Fowkes University of Bedfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
James Haggas Buckinghamshire New University MK Gallery Visit Website
Suzannah Holford University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website
Maxwell Kirwin Buckinghamshire New University MK Gallery Visit Website
Matt Girling Oxford Brookes University Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Rosamund Lakin Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Siegfried Habeck University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Neel Hune Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Shona McGovern Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Simon Merrifield University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Claire Orme University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Delia Perrigo Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Mai Spring University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Jonathan Webb University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Winner

Dominic Callaghan

Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford

Modern Art Oxford

Visit Website

Nominees

Alex Padfield University for the Creative Arts Aspex Visit Website
Pascale Wilson Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Cally Shadbolt Buckinghamshire New University MK Gallery Visit Website
Alex Warchol University of Bedfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Louise Fitzgerald University of Reading Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Hannah Allison-Finucane Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Louisa Love University of the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Charlotte Smith University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Other Exhibiting Artists

Archie Bell Aspex Visit Website
Jonathan Bulezuik Aspex Visit Website
Sophie Cottrell Winchester School of Art – University of Southampton Aspex Visit Website
Olivia Kattenhorn University of Chichester Aspex Visit Website
Emily Scott University for the Creative Arts Aspex Visit Website
Edward Clayton Buckinghamshire New University MK Gallery Visit Website
Scott Kells University of Bedfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Holly Kemish University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website
Gemma Davies Oxford Brookes University Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Rosanna Reed Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Lewdjaw / Jack Wilson University of Reading Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Rachel Johnston Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Linda Simon University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Harry Tomkins University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Daniella Turbin University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Winner

Joella Wheatley

Arts University Bournemouth

Aspex

Joella's paintings explore the mind as a channel for restructuring the concept of space. Using the combination of drawing and painting as a springboard for invention, she challenges the boundaries of a first-hand experience by containing herself within an actual physical space for a certain amount of time. This drastically reduces the amount of normal social interaction, of reasonable mental stimulus of exposure to the natural world, where almost everything that makes life human and bearable is emotionally, physically and psychologically removed. When the things that our brain and body rely on to connect to and understand are taken away from us, this denies us the ability to ask questions and seek reasons for explanations that allow us to understand ourselves.

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Nominees

George Bills Arts University Bournemouth Aspex Visit Website
Karolina Lebek University of Bedfordshire MK Gallery Visit Website
Marion Piper Buckinghamshire New University MK Gallery Visit Website
Cara George Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Kamila Janska Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Naomi Eaton-Baudains Canterbury Christ Church University Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Dominic Maffia University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Other Exhibiting Artists

Sophie Allen Aspex Visit Website
Jennifer Brown Aspex Visit Website
Jasmine Scott Aspex Visit Website
Deme Georghiou Aspex Visit Website
Marianne Glass Aspex Visit Website
Hailey Walsh Aspex Visit Website
Saliha El Houssaini Buckinghamshire New University MK Gallery Visit Website
Lauren Stanton University of Northampton MK Gallery Visit Website
Laura Bleach Oxford Brookes University Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Jack Eden Oxford Brookes University Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Alana Francis University of Reading Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Lucy Garnett Oxford Cherwell Valley College Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Jan Kaesbach Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Hannah Mills University of Reading Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Amy Wilkins Oxford Brookes University Modern Art Oxford Visit Website
Karen Crosby University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Jack Coulson Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Alexandra Hanschell University of Kent Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Sabina Tupin University for the Creative Arts Turner Contemporary Visit Website
Laura Walters Turner Contemporary Visit Website

Platform Alumni Network

We maintain contact with artists featured in past exhibitions through the Platform Alumni network, a support network to help them sustain the skills and focus they need to progress their practice and survive as an artist. Through a responsive programme of meet-ups and communications, artists share their practice and exchange experiences with each other.  

We spotlight member artists regularly through focus articles in the News section and through Instagram takeovers.

Here is a video of an event we hosted with the Platform Alumni and Reading International at the University of Reading. Speakers from left to right: Platform Alumni Artists George Morl, Rachael Minott, Nacheal Catnott, Sophie Dixon, with CVAN South East Manager Oliver Sumner, and Susanne Clausen, Professor at University of Reading and Director of Reading International.

 
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