College Art Competition winners announced

A man on a bicycle chased by sunlight streaking through the clouds, the giant structure of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the sun rising over the Backs on the morning of May Ball. These are just some of the impressive winning entries in this year’s St John’s College Art and Photography Competition.

More than 50 undergraduate and postgraduate members of St John’s took time out from their studies to get creative and enter the popular annual competition, submitting a variety of photos, sketches and paintings.

The winners will receive a £100 prize in the Photography categories and a £200 prize in the Fine and Applied Arts categories.

Aaron Tam, a first-year economics student and winner of the Black and White Prints category, entered an image of a man on a bicycle in a park in the Swedish city of Malmo. “I was drawn to the beauty and tranquillity of the park where families were enjoying themselves. The time was just right for a photo like this one – the sun shone through the cracks which opened up between the layers of cloud, emerging as rays of light down the sky. I believe this photo captures the serenity and relaxedness of life in Malmo, an atmosphere which I thoroughly enjoyed.”

The winner of the Colour Transparencies or Prints category was Kla Karava a third-year Physics student. Kla’s photo of the Golden Gate Bridge ‘Standing on the shoulder of the Giant, San Francisco’, was taken during his travels in the United States after he completed an undergraduate research project funded by the College at Caltech, the home of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he studied gravitational waves.

“I was inspired to take the photo because I wanted to compare the size of humans to the scale of the structure they built” explained Kla. “Much of my photography focuses on cityscapes because I have a deep interest in architecture.”

Archie Squire-Lindsay, a History of Art student in his second year, won the Paintings or Drawings category for his painting of the curtains in his room in the Cripps Building on the College grounds. “Although my painting seems abstract, it is entirely faithful to a photograph taken. The piece draws on the modulation of transitional cubist painting”. 

Finally, the Photographs of the College or College Life category was won by Modern and Medieval Languages student, Bernadette Schramm, for her photograph entitled ‘Survivors’, which captured the sunlight rising over the turrets of New Court on the morning after May Ball. “I had never seen the sun rise from that angle before and I wanted to capture the rays ascending over the wings of the Eagle Gateway” explained Bernadette. “This photo brings together many positive memories of my experiences at St John’s and I believe that photography tells stories in a more profound way to any other medium.”

All competition entries are on display in the exhibition area of the College Library until Tuesday 7 June.