Ikuko Tsuchiya & Marc Newton
2000 winners of the Jack Jackson Award
2000 winners of the Jack Jackson Award
The 2000 winners of the Jack Jackson Award are Ikuko Tsuchiya who took a Master of Art in Photography at Nottingham Trent University and Marc Newton who has just completed a BA in Fine Art at the London Guildhall University specialising in photography. Ikuko Tsuchiya received £1,409 towards her photographic documentation of therapeutic community life in Botton Village, North Yorkshire, home to UK adults with learning difficulties and co-workers from all over the world. Marc Newton received £242 for his project on Bondway, a London housing shelter for homeless men.
The two winners are presenting their work to members of the photographic and imaging industry and trade press on 16 January 2001 at the Bayer Conference Centre (courtesy of Agfa Geveart), Stoke Court, Stoke Poges, Slough.
The work will also be on display at Focus on Imaging, NEC, Birmingham from 25 February - 28 February 2001 (courtesy of Mary Walker Exhibitions Ltd).
IKUKO TSUCHIYA
Ikuko Tsuchiya has recently completed an MA Photography at Nottingham Trent University
Her project concerned photographic documentation of therapeutic community life and the representation of what she considers important in order to live as a human being in aspects of both Subjective Interpretation and Objective Observation.
The project is based on the lives of the inhabitants of Botton Village, North Yorkshire, which is home to about 160 adults with learning difficulties from the UK and over 140 of the co-workers from all over the world. They look after their own homes, run farms, market gardens, a food centre and bakery.
The village was founded by the Austrian Dr Karl Konig in 1955 as a Christian community run according to the principles of the Austrian philosopher, Rudolph Steiner.
Ikuko Tsuchiya was not only interested in recording the appearances of those who live in the community and have mental handicaps as a photographic objective, she sought out their inner element as human beings and tried to learn the source of humanity through observation which is complicated in our life in the present.
In fact, her first visit prompted her resolution to come to Britain again. Perhaps, it reawakened her awareness of what humanity is, by allowing her to make comparisons with her experiences of life in Japan where she grew up.
She has applied Subjective Interpretation in order to reflect her viewpoints concerning what she thinks is important to life. She believes this interpretation is apparent in the selection of people and their surrounding situation which became her photographic objective. She selected the people through her contacts with the community life.
An aspect of Objective Observation reflects the camera viewpoint as machinery for developing her subjectivity objectively. The objectivity is in the photographic representation of her subjective experience. In addition, selecting and using photographic equipment was also interdependent with the representation of her subjectivity. She used medium format camera (6x7) and black & white film.
Ikuko Tsuchiya developed her proposed project from these experiences and a pursuit of what she considers to be the important things in life and she regarded this as a serious and meaningful project.
MARC NEWTON
Marc Newton has recently graduated with a BA in Fine Art at the London Guildhall University where he specialised in photography.
Marc Newton works voluntarily at an organisation called 'Bondway'. Bondway's outreach project travels the streets of London and takes in homeless men they feel are more vulnerable living rough. He has got to know the residents in the shelter and it has opened his mind to the neglect the homeless receive. The people of the shelter have many problems from alcoholism to ill mental health and Marc decided he wanted to reflect the feel of Bondway and it's powerful characters through Photography.
The shelter agreed to allow him to take photographs and he has gained some potent imagery, from photographs of people who can no longer control their own body to images of people's attempts to take their own life. Working with Bondway and meeting the people within has opened his mind and created a different perspective of the homeless. He sees these people as very strong characters who have simply come across some kind of misfortune in their life that has put them where they are today.
The general public is used to seeing the homeless in doorways or on street corners, just walking by them as if they're not there. Marc Newton states:
"The fact is that these people do exist and all have their own special personalities and are just as equal as the people ignoring them. The photographs bring these characters to the surface and create an essence of Bondway's atmosphere showing these people as they are in their own natural environment, something that we are not used to seeing. It is a touching sight and I hope that through the opportunity to show this work to the public, maybe the next time they walk past a homeless person in a doorway, their view of them may be different or at least they will not be ignored."
PHOTO IMAGING COUNCIL
Orbital House, 85 Croydon Road
Caterham, Surrey CR3 6PD
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