We are delighted to be taking part in the Platform Graduate Award this year, and are excited to announce our 2023 selected graduates. Congratulations to Em Walker, Emelia Archer, Sara Paowana, Saul Baraitser and Bran Flakes.

The Platform Graduate Award is an initiative of CVAN South East to support emerging graduate artistic talent to further their practice following graduation. Established in 2012, the award includes a £2,000 bursary donated by the four venues and a 12-month bespoke mentoring package. It is awarded to an outstanding graduate from one of 12 participating regional higher education partners.

As part of their nomination, these selected graduates have the opportunity to participate in a group exhibition at Phoenix Art Space this autumn. Visit us from 2 September – 8 October to see their work exhibited in the Project Space. Join us for the exhibition opening on Friday 1 September, 6pm – 8pm.

Bran Flakes
In a paradoxical way, BRAN FLAKES challenges the institutional restraints that go along with conceptual art while simultaneously embracing the elitism and exclusion it has historically provided. They attempt to involve the viewer in a debate about the art world and the place of the artist and viewer within it.

Em Walker
Through her painting practice Em seeks to embody her understanding of the world, creating visual and physical motif which narrate complex experiences and inconsistent paradox. Her series of expanded paintings dissect the absurd experience of womanhood, rejects religion, and defies the limited expectations of female painters.

Emelia Archer
Emelia’s work seeks to embody a felt experience through a female gaze, centred around the visual representation of memory and environment. Using primarily oil paint to express these narratives, she focuses on creating a visual representation of lived female experiences and anxieties.

Sara Paowana
Sara is a multidisciplinary conceptual fine artist, largely working with ceramics, sculptures, and installation. Her artworks often combine language and text to formulate a cultural narrative that responds to diasporic identity and interchange of dual nationality.

Saul Baraitser
Saul’s current work involves exploring painting without paint by utilizing drawing, figuration, textiles, and language. Their artistic practice is concerned with exploring the unconscious and conscious aspects of human relationships, their emotional valence, and how an individual or group interpret these.