York St John Fine Art Degree Show 2021

This year’s York St John University graduates explore the human condition beyond what the eye can see, through innovative digital images and “aura photography” to spatial installation. Emotions of isolation, disconnect and ecological anxiety are prevalent, as well as modes of visual activism, healing and a renewed awareness with familiar surroundings. Explore the Class of 2021 online, with 50 recent graduates.


 

Class of 2021

Alexandra Ene

Architecture and the landscape provide inspiration for Alexandra Ene, who highlights the relationship between nature and the manmade.

Alison Ellis

Alison Ellis is an illustrator; a love of dragons drives her to create monsters and other characters, as expressed as prints, zines and sculptures.

Amelia Wilson-Wood

Illustrator Amelia Wilson-Wood’s energetic imagery is focused on organic and natural forms – combined with a love and passion for music.

Amy Majed

Manipulating light is Amy Majed’s primary aesthetic, with both artificial and natural light coming together in an amalgamation of forms.

Ashlee Hallas

Method and media are interconnected in Ashlee Hallas’ portfolio. Her approach often consists of deconstruction and collage.

Bethany Wilson

Bethany Wilson’s work explores bodily landscapes through drawing, mark-making and staining with inks and watered-down pigments.

Ellie Greensmith

Ellie Greensmith’s work taps into the widespread emotions from the past 12 months, exploring crucial conversations about mental health.

Emma Henderson

Emma Henderson is a queer visual artist from Yorkshire who mainly uses photographic practice to produce gender-bent and LGBTQ+ inspired art.

Evie Webb

Evie Webb is a photographer exploring the innate merit, necessity and virtue of mortality and the ageing process, harking back to Dutch Vanitas.

George Strachan

George Strachan’s drawing-based practice is rooted in experimentation, process and enquiry – making rubbings from a textured surface.

Grace Alison

Grace Alison used photography, sculpture and craft media to create a multi-dimensional series exploring her Nana’s home after being unused.

Hope Mitchell-Graham

Hope Mitchell-Graham’s craft-based work focuses on her identity as a woman and how this intersects with a new identity as a disabled person.

Ilyscia

Ilyscia is a digital artist whose focus on characters and the human figure are inspired by manga, and provide an intimate lens into a fantasy narrative.

Jack Bowman

Jack Bowman is a studio portrait photographer interested in the properties of visually compelling aura imagery.

Jack Tyler Kennedy

Jack Tyler Kennedy is a photographer whose interests vary from landscapes and portraiture to the abstract, to show the beauty of the world.

Jake Stephenson

Jake Stephenson roams the Yorkshire landscape, producing square format monochrome photographs of the region’s Brutalist architecture.

Jay Villacci

Jay Villacci’s Alienation series of photographs conveys a sense of abandonment and entrapment prevalent within British identity.

Jess Hargreaves

Jess Hargreaves describes her practice as “contemporary irreverence.” Through her work, she translates personal reactions to the everyday.

Jess Thompson

Jess Thompson is a portrait photographer who uses her camera as a tool to enhance wellbeing alongside a reflective practice.

John Cutting

John Cutting is driven to create awareness of the neglectful interferences that mankind has imposed on their natural surroundings.

Laura Campbell

Laura Campbell communicates her experience of chronic illness and the impact it has on the body through intimate and intrusive artworks.

Lauren Summerson

Lauren Summerson is a photographer whose work centres around portrait and product photography. She uses images to explore socio-political issues.

Liv Sanderson

Liv Sanderson’s aim is to produce images which best describes her subjects and portrays them in a light that best represents them.

Logan Downie

Logan Downie’s illustratrations are used as a celebration of fantasy and horror genres as well as for their subtextual links to queer identity.

Luca Roys

Luca Roys is invested in “night studies” as a genre that delights and inspires, as familiar places are cast as underworlds of play and potential.

Lucy Nettleton

Making sculptural obstacles is a main theme within Lucy Nettleton’s practice; the artist compels the audience to engage with her work.

Maria Anderson

Maria Anderson is an abstract artist whose work challenges personal identity within the surrounding environment.

Matthew Jinks

The recent work of Matthew Jinks focuses on media and social canon – and how its impact can affect the viewpoints of society,

Mia Ferullo

Mia Ferullo uses self portraiture as a method to regain control over the perception of one’s body, depicting her figure unapologetically in paintings.

Molly Leigh

Molly Leigh’s work explores gothic horror themes of the monstrous, isolation and the occult, with focus on relationships between characters.

Morgan Scott

Morgan Scott creates illustrations and sculptures based on female empowerment and sexual liberation, questioning representations of women.

Natalie Steventon

Steventon’s work explores the link between writing and sewing, stitch and word. It’s an exploration of communication and messaging.

Natasha Ahmed

Natasha Ahmed is an artist who lives and works in Sunderland. She takes an abstract approach, with texture and colour being the main factors.

Niamh Cullen

Niamh Cullen is an aspiring children’s illustrator whose work is focused on the playful, exploring themes of childhood, magic and wonder.

Penny Park

Penny Park is a photographer who explores the tension between nature and manufactured structures by capturing neglected environments.

Rachel Howard

Photographer and photo editor Rachel Howard explores cultural and socio-political issues relating to mental health, sexuality and gender.

Sarah Dallow

Sarah Dallow’s work is centred on the portrayal of the female body, combining flesh with unfurling petals, framing limbs with a delicate touch.

Sjon Barnes

Sjon Barnes explores “Non-Places”, which he defines as a space that, without humanity or the idea of capitalism, would cease to exist.

Sophie Cown

Sophie Cown is an architectural photographer whose work is built upon capturing and altering the perception of modern buildings.

Sophie Martin

Sophie Martin’s practice considers 2D and 3D approaches to painting through the use of multiple delicate and easily manipulated materials.

Sophie Rothwell

Sophie Rothwell’s The Archives superimposes one moment in time on top of another, with the image highlighting its own construction.

Steph Williams

Steph Williams’ latest work addresses her experience of life in Covid19 lockdown: a personal struggle with the turmoil of heightened anxieties.