Mother Art Prize 2018 - Winner and art show shortlisted artists

Candida Powell-Williams graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 2011 and the Slade School of Fine Art London in 2009. Her sculptural and performance works are a response to researching the slippage that occurs between primary and secondary source material, exploring the consequences of retelling history and how we construct identity through objects and memory. She is currently Artist in Residence at The Warburg Institute London. Selected exhibitions include: Lessness, still quorum, performance, Serpentine Galleries, London (2018); Boredom and its Acid Touch, Frieze Live, London (2017); Tongue Town, Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo (2017); Cache, Art Night Associate Programme, London (2017); Vernacular History of the Golden Rhubarb, Bosse and Baum Gallery, London (2017); PIC performance festival, Melbourne, Australia (2016); Coade’s Elixir-an occupation, Hayward Gallery, London (2014). In 2013 Powell-Williams was awarded the Sainsbury Scholarship at the British School at Rome.

About the Fountain of Tongues piece:

In this work a wobbly fountain pumps water around a pinecone made of tongues conjuring an atmosphere which crosses the Romantic poets with the drama of the Baroque. Pinecones are a prevalent classical decorative ornamentation and have been used to symbolise enlightenment, spirituality, the third eye and Pineal Gland, whilst tongues are a site for pleasure and communication emphasising a bodily experience. In Rome there are over 2000 fountains. The Romans were experts at moving water around which meant they could provide it for crucial trades from mines and farm to mills and also for their gardens. As well as the famous and busy fountains such as the Trevi there are hundreds of drinking fountains tucked away in quiet squares where all you can hear is the trickling sound of water and these often a social meeting point. Each of these potential references have a purpose in the complex web Powell-Williams creates in her practice in which she cross references history, symbols and even her own work, disorientating the viewer with familiar yet unfamiliar objects. This fountain was originally part of a larger immersive installation of sculpture, performance and moving image exploring the fetishism of anthropological objects. The project combined an interest in tourist behaviors such as rubbing statues with a catalogue of bizarre stories about these artefacts gathered from historians and archaeologists whilst at the British School at Rome. It seeked to capture the sense of spectacle found in exploring historical sites and their dramatization to contemporary visitors.

The judging panel was composed by:

– Beth Colocci, trustee of the UK Friends of the National Museum for Women in the Arts

– Sylvie Gormezano– Director at Picture this productions and Chair of the Association of Women Art Dealers (AWAD)

– Marcelle Joseph, Director and Curator at Marcelle Joseph Project

– Sigrid Kirk, Co-founder of ARTimbarc and AWITA ( Association of Women in the Arts)

–Elizabeth Neilson, Director at the Zabludowicz Collection

– Laura Smith, Curator at the Whitechapel Gallery