Shrek adds joy to Desislava Cholakova’s Brick Lane crafts

Student, 2nd winner
Desislava Cholakova, London South Bank University

Crafts of other forms are the inspiration for this year’s second winner – this time centred in a physical rather than conceptual space. Desislava Cholakova found herself inspired both by the Huguenot past of Brick Lane and its ‘multi-culti’ present to offer up an idea of its potential future. Drawing on the area’s weaving traditions and former brick-making industry, Cholakova proposes a ‘creative communal centre’, inspired by its history as the ‘motherland of crafts.’ But she doesn’t stop there, its hipster future is acknowledged too, with a ‘micro-village’ for fashion and textile production, pottery, costume design, watchmaking, Sitar production and leather manufacturing. All this new activity is witnessed from a passing Overground train by captivated passengers.

Morag Myerscough found it a tough call to decide between the winner and this project, sensing more ‘fun and playfulness’ here. Verity-Jane Keefe also responded to the work’s sense of joy, blending contemporary cultural references in among those traditional crafts: ‘I like the formality and compositional strength of the images but she has her mad moments – I love the way she’s just nestled Shrek alongside weavers and potters.’ Tatiana von Preussen saw the beauty of the images taken together ‘as a first or second place for me’. Pearman, charmed along with four other judges, by its tongue-in-cheek representation of an independent, self-sufficient community, awarded it second place.

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