An Art Foundation student from Reading College and University Centre has received a highly commended award in a University Art competition.
Aish Kheti-Heer, 18-years-old, from Caversham, entered her photograph of two models surrounded by her sculptures into Southampton Solent University’s Fine Art and Photography competition, which was launched last year. Her entry was shortlisted from 300 submissions from college students across the south of England.
Her submitted photograph was of two models surrounded by her sculptures that she had previously made as part of her Art as activism project, entitled Exposing the gaze. She photographed the sculpture with two models from her class, depicting the male gaze.
Speaking about her work, Aish said: “It was about the male gaze, so I looked at a lot of feminism and hyper sexualisation of women’s bodies and from that I made sculptures and then I used those sculptures and the models who interacted with them in the photography that I made. I took lots of photos, but the main one was the one that was submitted.
“I’ve always liked using feminism in my art and tackling challenging subjects and being a woman myself it’s easier to relate those themes into my art. I think it’s an important subject that people play around with, but they don’t really tackle it head on and I hope that with my art I tackled it head on in a way was really exposing.”
To choose the winning entries, Southampton Solent University collaborated with ‘a space’ arts, an Arts Council England National Portfolio organisation who have been supporting and inspiring artists in Southampton for 25 years. The winning entries represented five different colleges and featured mediums ranging from painting to photography.
Aish’s photograph along with the winners and the other highly commented entry, went on display in an exhibition housed in shipping containers in Guildhall Square in Southampton.
Aish recently attended a special showing in Southampton’s Guildhall Square, where the winners and highly commended entries were announced to an audience of friends, family and members of Southeast England’s art community.
Aish is studying an Art and Design Level 3 Foundation at Reading College and University Centre.
Speaking about being highly commended, Aish said: “It feels a bit surreal. I’ve never had my art in a public exhibition other than in the Reading College End of Year show in the summer.
“Going down and seeing that I got highly commended was a very surreal experience but also nice because I worked so hard on that project so it’s nice that it gets that recognition.
“I spoke to one of the judges, Nina Sverdvik, Course Leader Photography, at Southampton Solent University who was very interested in my work and impressed with my photography and asked if I was going to pursue it in the future. She said that she found it very captivating.”
“It’s given me more confidence in my work. I applied on a whim and then I got the email that I had been shortlisted which gave me a much-needed confidence boost.”
Celia Green, Visual Arts Teacher at Activate Learning, said: “She’s done so well and I think the piece of work that she submitted was very thought-provoking and it was a really good push within her practice at that time.
“I’m so proud of her and I think it’s a really good starting point for her artistic journey and her career, and it will be amazing to put on her CV and in the future that she’s had that experience of an exhibition and that other people in the art world also recognised her talent.”
In September, Aish will go to Falmouth University to study a BA (hons) degree in Fine Art, as she wishes to pursue her studies in this area.
Discover our Art, Design and Digital Creative programmes available to study at Reading College or contact us via 0800 612 6008.
