Art Prize Jury 2020
We are delighted to present the Jury for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2020. The panel comprises influential art figures, including curators, academics and artists whose expertise spans all media.
Ameena M. McConnell
Independent Curator, Entrepreneur & Artist
Ameena’s independent practice, Creative Fruits, has produced curatorial projects since 2004. Ameena has Curated for the Design Museum and London Design Festival, commissioning the museum’s first atrium installation VR experience Mind Pilot. Her current project focuses on inclusion and representation, championing a new generation of curators.
Andreas Gegner
Co-Director, Sprueth Magers
Andreas Gegner is Co-Director at Sprueth Magers London, an international gallery dedicated to modern and contemporary art. With further spaces in Berlin and Los Angeles, Sprueth Magers represents over 60 artists including leading names such as Stephen Shore, Jenny Holzer, Andreas Gursky, Kara Walker, Thomas Demand and Philip-Lorca diCorcia.
Dr. Beatrice Bertram
Senior Curator, York Art Gallery
Beatrice has recently joined the Gallery from the National Trust, where she worked on a major project at Petworth House in West Sussex. Previously, she curated the Watts 200 sequence of exhibitions as Curatorial Fellow at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, near Guildford, and held a Fellowship in the Prints and Drawings department at the British Museum.
Cherie Federico
Co-founder & Managing Director, Aesthetica
Cherie Federico is the Editor of Aesthetica Magazine and the Director of the Aesthetica Art Prize. Originally from New York, Cherie moved to the UK in 2002 to study for her Masters Degree and since then has developed Aesthetica into an international brand alongside the BAFTA Qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival and the Creative Writing Award.
Claire Catterall
Senior Curator, Somerset House
Claire Catterall works as Senior Curator at Somerset House, delivering a distinctive programme of exhibitions and cultural events including Perfume: A Sensory Journey through Contemporary Scent; Print! Tearing It Up; and Good Grief, Charlie Brown. Claire also devised and curated the institution’s acclaimed annual contemporary graphic art festival.
Damon Jackson-Waldock
Deputy Curator, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Damon Jackson-Waldock is Deputy Curator at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, an international centre for contemporary art. Major projects include Art For All by Bob and Roberta Smith, Aestival Infinato by Haroon Mirza and Bread, Circuses and TBD by Thukral & Tagra. He is Guest Curator for The Piece Hall and a career mentor at Sheffield Hallam University.
Diane Smyth
Writer, Editor & Curator
Diane Smyth is the former Digital Editor at British Journal of Photography. She worked on the print magazine for over a decade, interviewing Wolfgang Tillmans, Juergen Teller, Thomas Struth and more. Diane has also written for Creative Review, Aperture, Foam, Photomonitor, The Philosophy of Photography, The Guardian and The Sunday Times.
Dryden Goodwin
Artist & Professor, Slade School of Fine Art
Dryden Goodwin’s practice explores boundaries between intimacy and anonymity through drawings, photography, film and sound. He has produced major commissions for Art on the Underground, The Photographer’s Gallery and National Portrait Gallery and shown work at Tate Britain, The Venice Biennale, Hasselblad Foundation and major festivals.
Eliza Williams
Editor, Creative Review
Eliza Williams is Editor at Creative Review magazine, writing and broadcasting on art, design, advertising and music. Eliza has published two books with Laurence King: This Is Advertising and How 30 Great Ads Were Made, and has contributed to Phaidon publications including The 21st Century Art Book and The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design.
Dr Ope Lori
Artist & Director, PILAA.
Dr Ope Lori is an artist and Director of PILAA, an arts diversity consultancy and visual content production company, with clients including Wilson James and Tate. She has taught BA Fine Art programmes at Leeds Arts University and Chelsea College of Arts and is author of Beyond the Feminine: The Politics of Skin Colour and Gender in Visual Representations.
Pierre Saurisse
Lecturer, Sotheby’s Institute of Art
Pierre Saurisse is a Lecturer in Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, in London. His book Mechanics of the Unpredictable explores the question of chance in art in the 1960s. He has written on Gilbert and George in Visual Culture in Britain. His work is also published in Sculptures, Espace Art Actuel and The Mediatization of the Artist.
Sarah Allen
Assistant Curator, Tate Modern
Sarah Allen is Assistant Curator of International Art at Tate Modern. Recent shows include Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art; Nan Goldin; Martin Parr; Mark Ruwedel; Workers: Paris, Killip, Chernysheva and Daido Moriyama. She is currently curating the mid-career survey of Zanele Muholi’s work due to take place at Tate in 2020.
Shasti Lowton
Curator & Art Consultant
Shasti Lowton is a curator and art consultant who using exhibitions promote social change. Her research specialisms are in Latin American, South Asian, African and conflict art. Projects include collaborations with Southbank Centre and the Science Museum Group’s award-winning Illuminating India. She is currently Curator at Design Museum.
Yuen Fong Ling
Artist, Curator & Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Hallam
Yuen Fong Ling is an artist, Curator, and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University. His practice explores issues of intersectional identities, historical omission, non-permanent public memorial through strategies of socially engaged art practice. He has an MFA from Glasgow School of Art and a PhD by Practice from University of Lincoln.