Boodle Hatfield is delighted to continue its support for the Young London Print Prize (YLPP), a competition run by Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair to inspire and showcase the work of young artists.
The Young London Print Prize is a competition inviting young Londoners to express their response to the climate crisis through art launches today on the 50th anniversary of World Environment Day. Nearly 2,000 young artists between the ages of 9 and 11 from 37 schools across the capital are taking part, with the winners announced in October on the Piccadilly Lights. The Young London Print Prize ran for the first time during the pandemic and has quadrupled in size since. All the work is created, judged and curated by young people themselves. The competition celebrates their creativity and the many ways that art and culture can inspire an ecological renaissance.
Turning the spotlight on plastic pollution
In 2022, the Prize was won by Sara Ahmed, a Year 6 pupil from Mayflower Primary School in Tower Hamlets for an artwork called ‘Message on a bottle’. This year’s World Environment Day is themed around preventing plastic pollution, and Sara’s work, made using clay and ink with a technique called relief printing, speaks powerfully to this issue. Every year eight million tonnes of plastic ends up in the oceans. The equivalent of one bin-lorry load every minute.
London schools need art now more than ever
Fifty young people are taking part this year from Hawksmoor Primary School in Thamesmead. Their Year 6 teacher, Tazeem Akhtar, said: “Art offers children a special way of understanding and responding to the world. It think it’s incredibly important to develop their self-esteem and expression through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. This prize celebrates their individuality and enriches all our lives.” The Prize is also backed by South London-born musician and performer, Love Ssega, whose latest work, PANGEA, explores climate change and social justice and premieres on 8 June on the Southbank. He said: “Young people are already ahead of us. They’re using the magic of artistic imagination to paint the greener future we need to create. Good luck to all the entrants!” This year’s winners will be announced on the full screen of the Piccadilly Lights at 12pm on Wednesday 25 October, before being displayed at Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair from 26-29 October, alongside some of the world’s finest artists.
Commenting on behalf of London’s City Hall, the Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, Justine Simons OBE said: “Art and culture have the power to shift perceptions, to allow us to see things in a new way, and help shine a light on the climate emergency. I am delighted that on the 50th Anniversary of World Environment Day so many young Londoners will be part of this year’s Print Prize competition, using their incredible creative talents to express their response to one of today’s biggest challenges – climate change.”
Simon Fitzpatrick, Head of Art Law & More at Boodle Hatfield, commented: “We’re delighted to be continuing our work with the Young London Print Prize this year, and excited to see how they build upon last year’s fantastic work, providing opportunities for more children at more schools to get creative and drive the conversation around climate change. We look forward to seeing the artworks produced by this year’s participants and meeting the winners at the Piccadilly Circus reveal in October.”
Boodle Hatfield has been supporting Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair for a number of years and in 2019 launched the Boodle Hatfield Printmaking Prize.
The Young London Print Prize is run by Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, with fantastic support from Peabody, the Foundation for Future London, Landsec, the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, Boodle Hatfield LLP, Anthesis, Lefranc Bourgeois, and Forster Communications. For more information, please visit https://woolwichprintfair.com/young-london-print-prize
On 3 November 2022, Young London Print Prize (‘YLPP’) announced their 2022 winners, having asked entrants to express their responses to the climate crisis. The winner, Sara Ahmed, a Year 6 pupil from Mayflower Primary School in Tower Hamlets, depicted a single plastic bottle floating in the ocean . The artwork was made using a technique called relief printing.
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