Tom Heatley has won the 2015 Platform Prize run by the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea.
03 Nov 2015
The award, which showcases and mentors the very best of young emerging artists in the south east of England, includes a bursary worth £2,500.
While studying at the University of Brighton, Tom found that he had an equal interest in photography and sculpture, and for his final degree work, ’The Sculptors’, he spent much of the year in the university's fine art sculpture department photographing students’ work in progress, the leftovers of their constructions, and the ‘incidental’ still lives the students created.
As part of the installation of Tom’s work at the 2015 graduate show in July, his images were propped up or otherwise supported by the detritus of the sculptures, including parts of concrete blocks and pieces of metal. Tom explains his rationale: "My images, and the installation of the work, resolve a personal uncertainty over the decision to study photography over sculpture. The project illuminates my sculptural inclination through documents of incidental sculptures, still life and staged constructions."
As well as the Platform Prize, which includes mentorship by an artist. Tom’s work was selected for the Pingyao International Festival of Photography in China, where it was exhibited in September 2015. Tom recently participated in PechaKucha talks at the De La Warr, focusing on the colour red, which is prominent in his work. His most recent work have responded to the spaces of the De La Warr Pavilion building.
