Alan Chitty, age 21

Let us Travel

Mike Nelson's work in the Turner Prize and the theme of ‘Flashbacks’ that he used within the exhibit was the starting point to the work I created. I focused on his work which visually resembled a futuristic sand environment and the work was based around this question: What or who would inhabit Nelson's Landscape? This question was the key reason why I used figures in my new work. The composition consists of two images which are viewed side by side.

Image one is the ideology of Nelson's 'flashbacks': A manipulated War photograph holding family connotations and a memorial to past memories.

Image two is my own ‘premonition’: A photograph showing an insight to the future through the visuals of my sculpture highlighting central issues such as nuclear war and genetics. Both images perform to present the viewer with significant moments in time from two time periods, the past and the future.

Gerard Doolan, age 23

The Only Gift

The principal influence in ‘The Only Gift’ is the symbolic morality and ability to induce contemplation in Nathan Coley’s work. Likewise, I wanted to provide a spur for intellectual reflection of contemporary themes – this is blatant in the wording and subtle in its actual construction. ‘The Only Gift’ succeeds in capturing elements from the works exhibited like the faithless typography of ‘There Will Be No Miracles Here’, the framed image of ‘Annihilated Confessions’ and the consideration of materials in the ‘Threshold’ sculptures. The newspaper-style headline of text with its environmental connotations was created through the process of letter-pressing along with the modest use of mahogany, an endangered wood. Together they demonstrate the contradictions of climate change presented in the media. So, in illustrating a problem do we exacerbate it? Does this make the destruction of our planet inevitable? Or does it just raise the issue of its frailty?

Amba Sayal-Bennett, age 16

Hand on Head-onism

This work follows Wallinger’s earlier figurative paintings through which he succinctly communicates his serious political and social views. Using myself as subject, the painting is a comment on the varied influences that shape young and impressionable minds. The title, a play on words (like Bear) has two meanings: descriptive and metaphorical. A self-portrait essentially entertains the painter’s vanity and my head/ hedonism is restrained by my mother’s hand, nurturing and protective. Her Rolex watch reflects her own hedonism, symbolising the passing of time but also its effect on the changing of common values. The meat represents humans on an elemental level and that which lies beneath the layers of influence, something Wallinger attempts to do through his work by forcing us to deconstruct our stereotyped view of reality.

Kate Wilson, age 22

When bears sleep

Inspired by Mark Wallinger’s night time walks in a bear suit I wondered whether his sleeping habits changed to fit in with the daytime…did he stay in his bear outfit?

Daniel Thorne, age 15

The Bear Britain

This Piece of work is based on Mark Wallingers two entries “Sleeper” and “State Britain”. I merged them both together by sketching a bear holding a sign which has clearly written on it “No More Signs”. I also gave the bear a modern touch by giving him a hoodie to wear. I think this shows the parts of Britain that are forgotten and left to disintegrate and become home to violence and poverty. The bear is the symbol of a child brought up in a modern society and just because he wears a hoodie and holds a sign up saying what he thinks, people are scared of him and don’t care for him. That is why I named the piece “Bear Britain”.

Kerry Spicer, age 25

Mirrored Structures In Time and Space

Looking at Mike Nelson’s work “Mirrored Cubes Inverted” gave me the inspiration to continue the story of eerie abandonment in the very structures we see all around us. Following his idea of things infinitely vast I have mirrored the images of popular architectural structures within my city of Liverpool and abandoned them to an infinite space. Visions of familiar architecture are present yet echoes and starting points make it visually disrupting, asking the viewer to look closer and experience the connection of what is around us, taking it away and isolating the image to vastness and space.

Taking one image of a very ordinary piece of architecture and mirroring the image can turn it into something quite mystical and gives the viewer a sense of a futuristic landscape and yet the structures will be familiar to those who know them. Following on from Nelson’s work it is wonderful to know that there is beauty and composition in all things around us.

Connie Middleman, age 18

Clown

Influenced by Zarina Bhimji, I have decided to create a short film based on human emotions, such as how people can make a laughing stock of other cultures and beliefs. The clown is the ironic symbol of that laughter and mockery, yet as the film progresses, we see the clown from a different point of view, as he/she grows aggressively towards society and the fact that people judge a book by its cover. The second part of the film shows the clown removing the make-up, or that ‘mask.’ Once that mask is removed, we see an ordinary human being. This emphasises that everyone should be treated equally as we are all human beings living in one world. This short film is just over 3 minutes and is played on loop. There is no sound because the facial expressions portray the feelings in a strong manner as they are.

Matthew Ting, age 24

Mind The Art

My submission is a photograph of Nathan Coley’s “Threshold Sculpture”, with the notice from Tate to watch your step.

Whilst being guided through the Turner Prize galleries in Tate Liverpool, the guide has to make special mention to “mind the sculpture”. This initially got me thinking: would anyone have labelled this as art had it not been in a gallery and presented to them as such?

My photograph both lampoons the idea that a wooden beam is art, whilst strengthening Nathan Coley's message about power conveyed in architecture. His artwork has power in that it can physically trip the unobservant. It forces the viewer to consider why it is there, and what message it contains.

Hallam Girdardet, age 17

Laws In The Vicinity Of Our Freedom

My work is inspired by Mark Wallinger’s State Britain, which recreated an ongoing protest by Brian Haw, outside the Houses of Parliament, which had been removed due to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. In my opinion this law is a major breach of our freedom of speech and in my work I’ve tried to represent this. The canvas represents our freedom of speech, a banner of protest. It embodies the protests that are controlled under this new law. The tears in the canvas are the damage that this new law has inflicted on our freedom of speech. They have been semi repaired, as the government would claim that our freedom of speech still remains intact. I have then written every part of the new law over the canvas repeatedly to show the reason our freedom of speech has been vandalised, the writing in itself also represents vandalism.

Michaela Swan, age 16

Message in a bottle

I got my inspiration from watching the bear. I felt he was trying to give a message, so I decided to pop him in a bottle with his message. I put different characters around the bottle similar to the people banging on the glass in the film. I chose a bottle because it’s famous for sending messages across seas or a distress signal. Also a message in a bottle takes a long time to reach its destination so I have a snail representing snail mail.

Unfortunately my photo doesn’t do any justice for my work. I used orange tissue paper for the sand and a blue pom-pom for the waves, these are also contrasting colours.

Just to let you know no bears were hurt in the making of this artwork.