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Image: Kialy Tihngang’s “Useless Machines”, a project raising awareness of environmental racism and waste colonialism
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- Textiles Design graduate receives the GSA’s highest award
- BLM movement and how the global north illegally dumps its electronic waste on the global south inspired Kialy Tihngang’s final year project: Useless Machines
- Over 40 prizes awarded to graduating students including the Newbery Medal and five Chairman’s Medals
Multi-disciplinary textile designer, Kialy Tihngang, has been awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal, it was announced today, 2 July 2021, as the latest cohort of students graduated from The Glasgow School of Art. Named for the acclaimed Director of the GSA, Francis Newbery, the medal is awarded to the top graduating student. Over 40 awards were presented to graduating students including the Newbery and five Chairman’s Medals. The online graduation featured a guest contribution from Glasgow School of Art Product Design Graduate Amy Corbett, who is currently a Senior Design Manager at the LEGO Group, and an alternative commencement speech from Travis Alabanza.
“The Department is absolutely delighted that Kialy has been recognized in this way,” says Head of Fashion and Textiles, Professor Jimmy Stephen-Cran. “Her work makes a serious comment about environmental racism and waste colonialism, but does so in an engaging and playful way. The colourful self-operating gadgets she makes from scrap materials are a pure joy.”
As a comment on the increasing disposability of consumer electronics, which are often dumped in the global south at their end of life, Kialy, whose family originally comes from Cameroon, created a collection of objects that mimic the aesthetics of e-waste and mock the movements of machinery.
“The 2020 Black Lives Matter resurgence led me to researching ways in which Black people’s lives are still affected by racism, in less well-known ways than police brutality,” explains Kialy. “I stumbled upon waste colonialism, which is where former colonies pay the ecological price for emissions made by former colonisers. Examples include textile waste flooding African countries from charity ‘donations; so much plastic waste being exported to China that they imposed a national ban; and of course electronic waste ‘recycling’ in Ghanaian landfills.”
Welcome to Sodom, Florian Weigensamer and Christian Krönes’s film, with its many invaluable first- hand accounts from workers at Agbogbloshie, Ghana’s biggest e-waste recycling plant, had a particular impact on Kialy.
“Seeing the harsh environment on film and hearing the detrimental effects of e-waste dumping on their health, their environment, their livelihoods and their prospects really spurred me on the research further.”
“I was taken by the garish and ugly innards of discarded electronics: the colourful motherboards contrast greatly with the sleek designs of their outer shells. As a comment on the increasing disposability of consumer electronics, I created a collection of objects that mimic the aesthetics of e-waste and mock the movements of machinery: useless machines.”
“I hope this project will bring some awareness to the e-waste dumping crisis in Ghana.”
Kialy has also been awarded the Incorporation of Skinners & Glovers Prize for leatherwork
The 2021 Chairman’s Medals were awarded to Ella Campbell, (Fine Art Photography) Stanislaw Macleod (Product Design), Cara Smith, Silversmithing and Jewellery, Alexander Vile, (Stage 5 Architecture) and Ashley West, (Sound for the Moving Image) Ella Campbell also scooped the prestigious Steven Campbell Hunt Medal and Cara Smith won an Incorporation of Hammermen prize for Silversmithing and Jewellery.
Among the prize winners from the Mackintosh School of Architecture were Abby Hopes, Oliver Simpson, Jessica Mitchell and Timothy Khoo. The Lynn Scobie Award, presented to Stage 3 students who have, in the opinion of the stage leader and tutors, made an outstanding contribution to the ethos and spirit of the student community through their own work, activities or initiatives, went to Oliver, Jessica and Abby who, it was recently announced, has been short-listed for the National Women in Property Award. Meanwhile, the Bourdon Prize for Meritorious work, named for the first Head of Architecture at The Glasgow School of Art, went to Timothy Khoo for his Stage 5 city thesis proposing an architecture challenging the misrepresentation of refugees, asylum seekers and migration. Timothy also won one of the ten sustainability awards presented by the Mackintosh School of Architecture.
In the School of Design the Incorporation of Hammermen prizes went to Cara Smith and Monica Findlay; Sophie Downs was awarded the Incorporation of Bonnetmakers prize for the top student in Fashion and Textiles along with the Incorporation of Tailors award; and Yoko Hara won the Bill Naysmith Award for the most innovative student in furnishing textiles. This year’s Stakis Prize for Interior Design went to Kirsty Gault for her proposals for a Safe Consumption and Addiction Support Centre. Meanwhile, The Kerry Aylin Prize for Distinction in Print was won by Ellie Bainbridge, co-designer of the Flourish typeface created for the Shuggie Bain mural on Glasgow’s Barrowlands.
In the Innovation School Axelle Julien was awarded the Collaborative Practice award for her project to stimulate an awareness in the Global north of how natural resources are precious, something which she became particularly aware of whilst living in the Congo where water is very scare.
In the School of Fine Art Noemi Conan Stysiak (Painting and Printmaking) won the James Nicol McBroom Memorial Prize for Fine Art and will have one of her artworks added to GSA Archives and Collections. The Euan Stewart Memorial Prize and Jon McFarland Prizes for Printmaking were awarded to Susan Torrance and Yangpeng Zhou; Geraldine McConachie won the Benno Schotz Prize for sculpture and Carlos Anguera won the The Alice Duncan Prize for Fine Art Photography. The David Harding Public Art Project Prize For a public art project by an Environmental Art student went to Edie Preece
The 2021 GSA Sustainability Awards were won by Aimee Haldane (Sculpture and Environmental Art) and Tara Drummie (Communication Design)
For full list of award winners see Notes for Editors
See work by the 2021 cohort of graduating students on GSA Graduate Showcase
Ends
For further information
Lesley Booth
07799414474
@GSofAMedia
Notes for Editors
· Recent winners of the Newbery Medal include BAFTA Award-winning animated filmmaker, Ross Hogg (2013); Gemma Lord (2015), now Senior Design Lead at IDEO; Jerome Wren (2017), now an architect at Carmody Groake; Erin McQuarrie (2018, now a Brooklyn-based textile artist, and visual artists Alex Kuusik (2014), Jack McCombe (2016) and Kate Lingard (2019)
2021 Prizes
Newbery Medal
Kialy Tihngang
Chairman’s Medals
Ella Campbell (School of Fine Art)
Stanislaw Macleod (innovation School)
Cara Smith (School of Design)
Alexander Vile (Mackintosh School of Architecture)
Ashley West (School of Simulation and Visualisation)
OPEN AWARDS
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GSA Prize for Sustainability |
Arranged by GSA sustainability |
Winners: Aimee Haldane (Sculpture and Environmental Art) Tara Drummie (Communication Design) Highly Commended Eilidh McEwan Interior Design Commended Rory Green (Sound for the Moving Image) Mate Gehberger (ARCH)
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Dissertation Prize |
For the best dissertations by Schools of Fine Art and Design |
Marie- (Sculpture and Environmental Art) Ruari Green (Sound for the Moving Image) |
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Essay Prize |
For the best essay by Schools of Fine Art and Design |
Marie-Claire Lacey (Sculpture and Environmental Art) Coire Simpson (Sculpture and Environmental Art) Iona Turner (Silversmithing and Jewellery) |
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MACKINTOSH SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
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Joe Park Award |
For best part-time student (Part 1 and Part 2) |
Eve Parsons (Stage 5) |
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Bourdon Prize |
For meritorious work |
Timothy Khoo (Stage 5)
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MSA Stage 4 BArch(Hons) Portfolio Prize |
For the best portfolio in Stage 4 BArch(Hons) |
Angeliki Sachliki |
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MSA Stage 4 Diploma Portfolio Prize |
For the best portfolio in Stage 4 Diploma |
Ailish Whooley |
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MSA Research Project Prize |
For best research project submitted for the Diploma in Architecture |
William White-Howe (Stage 4) Katy McGregor (Stage 4) |
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The Lynn Scobie Memorial Prize for Architecture |
Awarded to a third year student of Architecture who has, in the opinion of the stage leader and tutors, made an outstanding contribution to the ethos and spirit of the student community through their own work, activities or initiatives |
Abby Hopes Oliver Simpson Jessica Mitchell
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Sustainablity Awards |
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Stage 1: Kirsten Mcdove Stage 2: Philippa Cook and Neil Mochrie Stage 3: Euan Clarke Stage 4: Lotta Pulkkinen Stage 5: Joanne Hall, Rebecca Robertson, Timothy Khoo Rebecca Hodalova and Maisie Tudge |
SCHOOL OF DESIGN
Silversmithing and Jewellery
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Richard H Arroll Memorial Prize |
For Silversmithing and Jewellery |
Sally Shepherd |
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Incorporation of Hammermen |
Silversmithing and Jewellery |
Cara Smith Monica Findlay |
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The Peter Wylie Davidson Memorial Prize |
For the purchase of work from a final year Silversmithing and Jewellery student |
Iona Turner |
Fashion and Textiles
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Incorporation of Bonnetmakers |
For the top student in Fashion or Textiles – awarded at Incorporation’s annual dinner |
Sophie Downs |
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Incorporation of Tailors |
To best student displaying tailoring skills or an interest in tailoring – awarded at annual dinner |
Poppy Brooks |
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Bill Naysmith Innovation Award |
For most innovative student in furnishing textiles |
Yoko Hara |
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Incorporation of Skinners & Glovers Prize |
Prize for leatherwork
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Kialy Tihngang |
Interior Design
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James Brough Memorial Prize |
Interior Design |
Ross Ferguson |
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Stakis Prize
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For Interior Design |
Kirsty Gaunt |
Communication Design
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The Kerry Aylin Prize for Distinction in Print |
Awarded to a final year Communication Design student producing innovative work that incorporates elements of print |
Ellie Bainbridge |
INNOVATION SCHOOL
Product Design
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Innovation Design Prize |
design exploring opportunities for innovation |
Pauline Barbier |
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Innovation Design Research Prize |
For the most promising 4th or 5th year student in Product Design in the area of research |
Sophie Young |
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Innovation Design Collaborative Practice Prize |
For the most promising 4th or 5th year student in Product Design in the area of engagement and collaboration |
Axelle Julien |
SCHOOL OF FINE ART
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Steven Campbell Hunt Medal |
For a final year Fine Art student – for work of the most poetic creativity. Selected by Carol Campbell
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Ella Josephine Campbell (Painting and Printmaking) |
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The James Nicol McBroom Memorial Prize for Fine Art |
Purchase prize for a student of Painting & Printmaking. The purchased piece will become part of the GSA Archives & Collections. Selected by panel |
Noemi Conan Stysiak (Painting and Printmaking) |
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John Calcutt Prize for Critical Writing |
For excellence in writing with particular focus upon or engagement with the relationship between language and art.
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Lydia Davies (MFA)
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Critical Theory Prize |
For excellent achievement in Dissertation/Essay in field of Critical Theory |
Maya Fleury (Sculpture and Environmental Art) Francisco Llinas (Sculpture and Environmental Art) |
Painting
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Armour Prize |
Still life
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Catherine Iles |
Printmaking
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Glasgow Print Studio |
1 year membership
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Eve McShannon |
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Euan Stewart Memorial Prize |
For a Printmaking student |
Susan Torrance |
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Jon McFarland Prize for Printmaking |
For a student working in printmaking |
Yangpeng Zhou |
Sculpture
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Benno Schotz Prize |
Prize for sculpture |
Geraldine McConachie |
Fine Art Photography
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The Alice Duncan Prize |
Travel award for final year Fine Art Photography student |
Carlos Anguera |
Environmental Art
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The David Harding Public Art Project Prize |
For a public art project by an Environmental Art student |
Edie Preece |