Newcastle Architecture in the frame for Fujifilm award

06 March 2008

Photographic artist, Jill Smith, of Newcastle upon Tyne, has been awarded a Fujifilm Distinction Merit Award, for a piece of work commissioned by North East design and architectural firm, Mosedale Gillatt Architects (MGA).

The award-winning photograph formed part of a series of illustrative and contrasting images that were taken by Jill to celebrate ten years of MGA’s creative projects. The series, entitled ‘Outside In’, culminated in an exhibition at Northern Print, centre for contemporary printmaking – a fitting choice of venue as the building itself was designed by MGA and featured within the exhibition.

The primary concept of the collection was to explore the division of space between inside and out, with each image seeing the exterior merged with the interior, amplifying boundary distinctions between the inside of a building and its outwardly façade.

Over 3,000 images were submitted for the Fujifilm competition, from which judges chose just 35 to receive a Merit Award. The judging panel was made up of Jon Levy from Foto 8 Magazine (www.foto8.com), Michael Olu Odukoya from Kilimanjaro Magazine (www.kilimag.com) and Jerry Deeney from Fujifilm Professional.

This is the second year that Distinctions has been a ‘film-only’ award now attracting 30% more entries than in 2006. Since its initial launch in September 2002, over 25,000 images have been submitted, making it one of the most prestigious professional photographic awards in the UK.

Tim Mosedale, Director of MGA, said: “We are delighted that Jill has been recognised in this renowned competition. The photographic work that was produced to celebrate ten years of MGA’s projects provided us with a really inspiring exhibition, which attracted many visitors to the gallery. Working in the practice of design, we believe there is an obvious synergy with the arts world, and will continue to work closely with artists to further enhance our architectural output and benefit our staff and clients alike.”

Jill Smith previously took residency with MGA under the Arts Council Placement Programme. In addition, MGA has also worked with artist, Angela Hughes, on a series of art classes for staff, designed to encourage the use of traditional skills to further lateral thinking.

For further information about MGA, contact 0191 261 7444 or see www.mgarchitects.info. To view all images from ‘Outside In’ see www.jillsmith.co.uk. To view all winning Fujifilm images, go to www.fujifilmdistinctions.co.uk

Released By

Mosedale Gillatt Architects