Salma wins internship at the Aldridge Signature Junior Art exhibition

by Vashti Turner  on February 14, 2020  in  Academy News Creativity Performance and Creative Arts

On Thursday 13th February Salma (13 Wilberforce) had her work exhibited at the first ever Aldridge Signature Junior Art Prize at the Bankside Hotel, in partnership with Artellite. From 39 outstanding entries from Key stage 4 and Key stage 5 students across the family of Aldridge schools, Salma’s painting was selected as one of three finalists in the ‘Fine Art’ category.

A panel of judges, including Foundation Trustee Lady Carol Aldridge, former Darwen Aldridge Community Academy student Khushna Sulaman-Butt, and Peter Gabriel, representative from the competition sponsor, Callsign, were asked to score the entries on a range of criteria from creativity and originality to quality of artistic composition.

The finalists were invited to spend a day seeing the best of London’s art venues, including Somerset House and the Tate Modern, before heading to the Bankside Hotel for a private viewing of the exhibition where winner for each category was announced. We’re thrilled to announce that Salma won the Fine Art category and has been awarded an internship at Artelight.

The Boy In The Durag
Oil paints, linseed oil, turpentine, liquin, MDF board
35 x 43 x 1.6 cm
2019
About the work: This piece specifically hits close to home, the boy painted is a younger brother of my close friend, who is of Somali heritage. Born in London and being of Moroccan heritage, the area I live in consists of predominantly African backgrounds, with families of different cultures combining the differences to create a united community in White City Estate. The significance of the durag, is to defy the stereotypes behind this headpiece, associated with being criminalised. This is simply a 13 year year boy, wearing the durag as a fashion piece, representing his style and culture.