Moreton Hall’s Sixth Form Art students have scooped both first place and runner-up prize in the prestigious Falmouth School of Art ‘Where there’s still life, there’s still hope!’ competition, which celebrates innovation in Still Life.

Working from home during lockdown, Sixth Form student Rebecca Lewis won first place in the competition for her sculpture and was awarded the top prize of £500.

Rebecca said, “Whilst making this sculpture I was influenced by the LGBT community and the ideas of gender identity that is why this sculpture represents a genderless person. I also painted it white as another representation of the idea of the sculpture being genderless. The broken glass for the noose shows the fragility of mental health and the reflective surface shows us how we see ourselves.”

Judge Martin Clarke, Director of Camden Art Centre, London commented: “I loved the powerful ambiguity of this image. And it’s a very sophisticated approach technically, producing a very beautiful photographic work from a sculptural object that is charged with mystery. It’s a  real enigmatic image, shifting between figuration, abstraction and holding open all kinds of possibilities and readings.

“When I read Rebecca’s text it felt entirely appropriate that this seductive, strange and beautiful image was the product of an enquiry into diversity, difference and shifting expressions of identity and gender, surface and deeper.”

Kundai Chipondene, Moreton Hall’s Head Girl, was awarded runner-up with her fabulous portraits, which are her response to Black Lives Matter. The judges commented:

“These paintings are bursting with energy and confidence. All of us loved the way that the panel supports could hardly contain the figures splashed across them with such exuberance.

“They display a remarkable skill, both in their very sophisticated composition and in the way they capture the energy and character of each of the subjects. A group of bold and beautiful portraits that play with space, colour, surface and form really successfully.”

Kundai wins a £250 Amazon voucher, which will be used to keep her supplied with paints!