Loughborough student exhibits at National Portrait Gallery
A photographic portrait by Ali Lomas, who graduated from Loughborough University in the summer, is to be exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
The image (view full version), which Ali created as part of her University portfolio, is among 60 photographs to have been selected for exhibition as part of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.
Around 6,300 submissions were made to the prestigious competition, which celebrates the very best in contemporary portrait photography and is open to amateur and professional photographers from around the world.
Ali’s portrait shows a young woman standing next to the wash basins in a white-tiled public toilet. In one of the basins lie the remnants of fish and chips wrapped in paper. “I wanted to produce a tender and beautiful photograph that is also tinged with a negative atmosphere. The portrait has an essence of vulnerability, which gives the photograph a disquieting and uncomfortable air that makes the viewer feel as if they are intruding on a moment of drama which they shouldn’t be watching,” Ali explains.
Ali (22), who originates from Burton-upon-Trent, graduated from Loughborough University School of Art and Design in July with a First Class degree in Fine Art, specialising in photography.
I really didn’t expect to be included in the exhibition. It’s such a privilege and is very exciting to have been accepted.
It is the second time in two years that a Loughborough student’s work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery. In May 2008, Ben Cohen, who also graduated in July from the Fine Art course, became the first-ever Loughborough student to have a portrait displayed at the Gallery. His work, entitled ‘John’, was shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award.
The winners of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize awards will be announced at a ceremony in London on 3 November.
Ali’s portrait, together with those of the other artists, will be exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 November 2009 to 14 February 2010. The exhibition will then tour to The Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead from 27 March to 6 June 2010 and then to The New Art Gallery, Walsall from July to September 2010.
Download this issue in Adobe PDF format