Congratulations to Upper Sixth Former Tyler Choga who wowed judges with his thoughtful and eloquent talk on the work ‘Sharecropper’, by Elizabeth Catlett at the regional finals of the ARTiculation competition last week. So impressed with his insights and for “taking the listener on a great journey” were the judges, that they awarded him a place in the grand final, which takes place on 23 March at the National Gallery.
ARTiculation is an annual national public speaking competition, which invites sixth form students to give a short presentation on a piece of work, artefact or architecture of their choice. This year, it took place at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich.
Tyler’s authoritative talk began with Elizabeth Catlett’s background, the descendant of enslaved people whose work aimed to reflect society and incite societal change. Tyler’s powerful description of the inescapable cycle of debt and the discrimination faced by African Americans gave an excellent grounding for his visual analysis. Tyler’s analysis and comparison of the ‘Sharecropper’ and ‘War Worker’ effectively weaved the formal qualities of the print and painting to the content, interpreting the subjects of the work as people not to be pitied for the situation they were in, but admired for their strength and pride in the face of adversity. This was masterfully linked to the European Cubist movement, which was in turn linked to the appropriation of African artefacts.
Tyler’s personal response to the work and his confidence in articulating such a complex subject matter within 10 minutes earned him his place in the final.
Judicator, Jago Cooper congratulated Tyler for taking us all on a “great journey”, which included the artist’s work and life, and for his excellent research. He described Tyler’s presentation as “masterful” and praised him for making links and dialogues between works as well as continents.
Mr James Nicholl, Head of Sculpture, commented, “A huge well done to Tyler for winning the regional final. He performed exceptionally well against four strong competitors and we are immensely proud of his efforts. We look forward to supporting him at the National Gallery!”