Jane McAdam Freud
Liz Atkin's Skin/Shred is such a compelling image. I found it to be both familiar and unfamiliar in that I was drawn towards this image but could not at first recognise it.It seemed like a strange landscape/waterscape put on it's side but when the skinscape came into focus I felt the physicality of the process along with the eeriness of it's implications. The taut torso twinned with the stretched latex make for a provocative yet beautiful photograph.
| Ayla Lepine
Liz Atkin's Shik/Shed is this years clear winner. We all agreed that this arresting photograph showed a mastery of the medium and an active interest in geometry. Perspective, proportion, focus and depth are all at play in this at once exquisite and mysterious, familiar and strange image.
The indexing of the body's largest organ, strips of which are then torn away in elastic, delicate tension under the scrutiny of daylight, has exposed a lattice, the dynamic network of which is laid bare to the camera's eye. Atkins' work extends the limits of and refers back to the body itself, the semi-permeable covering of frail flesh being her starting point for a profound metaphor. For pairing death and life, and flattened surfaces with an enticing depth, I felt Atkins' work is laudable. I hope sincerely that she will continue to contribute to British Women Artists and to make challenging and provocative works of art.
| Kim Morrissey
After compiling an eclectic shortlist, with some overlapping of choices, our list was reduced to three works:-
Our unanimous winner was Liz Atkin's intelligent and intriguing Skin/Shed 2010, one of a series of works by her (and the only one of her entries to make the shortlist). Of course, it's always a pleasure to choose a winner unanimously, but it's an even greater pleasure and privilege to be the first to see the entries and to celebrate over 200 new works by women artists. There were promising artists who didn't make the shortlist, and I hope everyone in the 2010 competition will allow their entries to remain on-line in the British Women Artist's gallery.
A competition is simply a recorded conversation, with the judges having the first word; we should encourage everyone to see these talented artist's works in context so that we can go on to the next stage of history: judging the judges.
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