Second Place Award in ISA Community Art Competition
13th April 23
It is with great pleasure to congratulate A Level Art & Design students, Aemilia C and Taylor B M, for being awarded second place in the ISA Community Art Competition! Competing against many other schools and colleges and with hundreds of applicants, this is a huge accomplishment. Aemilia engaged with her local Parkinson’s community to support Parkinson’s Awareness. With her work she hopes to raise awareness about Parkinson’s and her local community.
Speaking to Aemilia she told us;
“I was invited to take portraits for the Parkinson’s foundation. Parkinson’s is a degenerative disease that affects the brain.
It causes problems like shaking and stiffness that get worse over time. The main symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are shaking (tremors), slow movements and stiffness. Treatments for Parkinson’s disease include therapies to help with movement problems, medicines and sometimes brain surgery. Parkinson’s disease is caused by a loss of nerve cells in part of the brain. It’s not clear exactly why this happens and can strike anyone down. Famous Parkinson’s sufferers include the actor Michael J Fox, the rockstar Ozzy Osbourne and boxer Muhammed Ali.
I knew this would give me the opportunity to document some interesting personalities and capture interesting portraits, but the wider thought was to capture the community, camaraderie, and compassion which the Parkinson’s foundations brings together.
I could have spent hours speaking with each subject, as each had a wealth of stories to tell. The subjects were both of an age and had experienced much of life, good and bad, to the extent they really did not care about having their photos taken in the same way that young people do. Rather than being old and shy, most were quite liberated, and I think this shows in the images.
The people that I photographed looked physically meek, mild, and tired, but mentally they were strong and tough. They continue to fight on. Our main goal that I wanted to achieve by the end of this shoot was to capture their souls and personalities in such little time I had with each person, I also wanted to capture the connection I had with each person. I was interested the in abstract images more than the formal portraits. All the people that I photographed didn’t seem to mind that they were having their photo taken, they all have a so what approach to me taking their photos. They aren’t phased by anything that happens as they have been through so much in life.”
Find out more about Art & Design at DLD College London.
Jack Chester, Head of Art
