The Batsford Prize winners 2022

We are delighted to announce the winners of the Batsford Prize 2022!

The theme for this year’s award was ‘Communication and Connection’ and the judges looked for entries that showed innovative and well-crafted interpretations of the theme, in terms of subject or materials used, or a combination of the two.

The judges, Eleanor Crow, Vaughan Grylls, Anne Kelly, Neil Dunnicliffe and Tina Persaud selected the winners and runners up across the four categories Applied Art & Textiles, Fine Art, Illustration and Children’s Illustration. This year also featured the People’s Choice Award, where the winner and runners up were decided by the public, from the judges’ shortlist.

The winner of each category received a £500 cash prize and books from Batsford.

APPLIED ART & TEXTILES

Winner

Beneath the Surface

Grace Faichnie, BA (Hons) Textiles, Arts University Bournemouth

An under the sea themed textile collection for fashion. Inspired by the beauty found beneath us. Created using digital print, fabric manipulation, laser cutting, crochet and stitch. The concept I wanted to achieve was bringing this hidden beauty to the surface.

Runners up

1960s nostalgia

Hannah Bentley, BA (Hons) Textile Design, Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton

This collection is a contemporary twist to 1960s retro textiles. The inspiration is taken from my own family heritage and is based on an archive of domestic home objects from the 60s era. The tweedy weaves and the woolly textures provide a sense of nostalgic comfort.

The Line Between Architecture and Happiness

Berfin Tepe, Textiles Design BA (Hons), Nottingham Trent University

This project aims to design a collection of textile samples that would be suitable for an application of three-dimensional textile that can be used as a room divider and wall installation pieces. All samples would be repeated into tiles, that is why they are all sized A4-A3.

FINE ART

Winner

‘Hi Daddy’ (or’If you say the words you don’t need to go back’)

Nelson, Graduate Diploma in Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London

This is a short film about a traumatic memory centred around attempting to communicate with a parent about something difficult. In the memory, the phone used for the conversation has become an anchor object, remembered in acute detail, and linked laterally to other memories.

Runners up

Allegory of ennui and the rebellious witnesses

Miyeon Yi, MA Painting, Royal College of Art

My project is to make paintings that depicts desire for the unity and freedom within isolated life of individuals. Often the figures are divided by structure of the interior space they are placed in. I think of them similar to the Noh theater or cinematography of film from Ozu.

Possess

Duanqing Wan, MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London

The work uses ‘rust’ and ‘sheets’ as the basic elements to establish relationships. The extent to which these mediums occupy the work fluctuates with the environment and the subjective consciousness of the person. to achieve a de-centering of the subject matter.

ILLUSTRATION

Winner

Covid Tales

Wuon-Gean Ho, PhD in Printmaking, University of the West of England

I made this six minute video in the middle of the first lockdown, when communication and connection were limited to the screen. The images are all two colour linocuts which talk about working from home, the absurdity of contagion, yearning for touch and pandemic life.

Runners up

Navigating Dyslexia

Kate Rolfe, MA Children’s Book Illustration, Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University

This is a series of illustrations I developed to visually represent my own experience of dyslexia, in the hope of providing both a mirror of validation for those facing similar struggles, and also a window through which others can better understand.

The Queer Closet

Louise Bassou, BA Illustration, Arts University Bournemouth

The Queer Closet is a collection of illustrated outfits in mundane settings. Whether the clothing was chosen as a form of self-expression or a conscious effort to defy gender norms, put in the context of queerness it challenges the cisnormative idea of gender expression.

CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATION

Winner

Aliens in the Park

Justin Worsley, MA Children’s Book Illustration, Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University

‘Aliens in the Park’ is a dummy picture book that talks about a young child’s imagination, the connection they have with their mother and their growing independence.

Runners up

The Great Bear

Annabelle Booker, Illustration BA (Hons), University of the West of England

The Great Bear is a silent narrative inspired by an Inuit folktale and the real Beaufort sea polar bear- a species needing our help to preserve it, with its population at less that 400 individuals. Polar bears are vital to the arctic and the symbiotic relationships within.

Wolf and Bear

Kate Rolfe, MA Children’s Book Illustration, Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University

Wolf and Bear is a picture book about two very different friends as they navigate the impact of mental illness on their relationship. It is a story of misunderstandings, learning to balance compassion with communicating your own needs, and the power of finding common ground.

The People’s Choice Award

Winner

The Great Bear

Annabelle Booker, Illustration BA (Hons), University of the West of England

Runners up

Sometimes

Frances Ives, MA Children’s Book Illustration, Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University

Sometimes is a picture book to help start a conversation about those less easily recognised feelings, that we all experience from time to time. Made with offset monotype, ink, pastels and goauche, it explores creatures as metaphors for mental health.

Wu Gui

Xinyao Yu, MA Contemporary Art Practice – Public Sphere, Royal College of Art

‘Wu Gui’ means turtle was stolen from Chinese vocabulary to be my pronoun, redefined by me while I re-identified myself. It broke the boundary of language and identity, which are fake parodies as hegemonic norms, like Wu Gui in the video connected the symbolic with the real.