Student work exhibited at Saatchi Gallery

MMU’s Aliyah Hussain, 22, has joined Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin in having her artwork exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

The final year Interactive Arts student was given the opportunity of a lifetime as a finalist in the Google Photography Prize, selected from over 3,500 entries from 82 countries.

Impressing the judges

Google invited students to submit five digital photographs for an iGoogle ‘theme’ – the visual images spanning the top portion of the search engine’s personalised homepage - with the aim of creating a digital canvas for their creativity and bringing their art to a global audience.

The themes of six finalists were selected for display at the capital’s contemporary art gallery on King’s Road from 36 shortlisted entries. Aliyah’s collection of brightly coloured windmills positioned in a rundown area of Blackburn was even awarded an additional commendation prize by the jury.

Aliyah says: “A lot of my work explores urban areas and the photographs I entered for the Google Photography Prize were a comment on community pride in Blackburn, where I’m from originally. I really like the contrast between the bright colours of the wheels and the bleak environment in which they were placed. I had to use three different sets of wheels for the shots as every time I returned to the site the previous ones had been destroyed.”

Competition confidence

She continues: “I was so excited to be shortlisted for the competition, especially as so many people had entered. When I discovered the judges were so impressed with my work they’d created a new prize for it, I was even more amazed! I now feel much more confident about continuing my practice once I leave MMU.”

Google Photography Prize finalists were invited to attend an all-expenses-paid private view of the exhibition where an expert panel – which included world-renowned photographer and former MMU student Martin Parr - announced the overall competition winner, a student from Hungary.

Following graduation Aliyah plans to continue her collaborative work with friend and fellow artist Emily Deyn - www.hussaindeyn.com - and become more established as an artist. Longer term, she would like to study for a Masters.