The winner of the 2019 Shape Arts’ Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary is artist and writer Sophie Hoyle. She will receive a £10,000 bursary plus a three-month residency at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art next year.
Hoyle, who is a graduate of Goldsmiths University and has previously shown at Jerwood Space and Flat Time House in London, was chosen from a shortlist that also included Amy Rosa McLachlan, Leah Clements, Laura Genevieve Jones, and Romily Alice Walden.
Hoyle’s work explores post-colonial, queer, feminist, antipsychiatry and disability issues which relate to her personal experiences of being queer, non-binary and part of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) diaspora.
She will use the bursary’s residency period to extend her research, collaborating with local activist groups and disabled artist communities.
Explaining the impact the award will have, Hoyle said: “I’m feeling overwhelmed but really excited and looking forward to having time and space to expand on different elements of my practice, and to engage with communities in Gateshead.
“I feel honoured to have been part of such a great shortlist of artists who I feel are all making really important and urgent work.”
Hoyle will show her work alongside the four other shortlisted artists as part of the Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary Shortlist exhibition at the Baltic next year.
Sarah Munro, director of Baltic, said: “It is a joy to open up a dialogue, not only with Sophie, but with all the shortlisted artists who are making a significant contribution to new practice.
“The collaboration with Shape recognises and responds to the challenges and barriers that exist for many artists, embedding diversity, inclusivity and care within our institutions.”
The Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary is disability-led arts organisation Shape Arts’ flagship art award, set up in memory of sculptor Adam Reynolds. It is designed to support mid-career disabled artists looking to develop their practice and build their profile.
Previous recipients of the bursary include sculptors Terence Birch and Oliver MacDonald, who took part in residencies at Pallant House Gallery and the University of Chichester, and Turner Contemporary respectively. Residencies have also been hosted by the V&A, the New Art Gallery Walsall, Camden Arts Centre, and Spike Island.
Image:
1. Sophie Hoyle, Permastress. Photo: Rebecca Lennon
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