Young artist awarded first Liverpool Biennial and LJMU Fellowship

Rosa Johan Uddoh is the first artist to receive the Liverpool Biennial Fellowship founded by Liverpool John Moores University. Celebrating 20 years of the Biennial, the Fellowship has been created to recognise and support the work of emerging artists, and this year is awarded to an artist exhibiting in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018.

The year-long Fellowship includes a £5,000 cash prize, as well as full access to the resources of the university: studios, workshops, exhibition spaces and teaching staff, curators, artists and scholars. In addition, the artist will have the opportunity to contribute to teaching in the university as a Visiting Lecturer. 

Rosa Johan Uddoh (b. 1993, London) studied for her BA Architecture at Cambridge University and MA Fine Art Media at Slade School of Fine Art graduating in 2018. Her work has been included in group shows at Wysing Art Centre, Cambridge, The Royal Standard, Liverpool and The Cob Gallery, London. While at Slade, she organised the interdisciplinary conference Widening the Gaze. Since 2016, Rosa has been a Sarabande: Lee Alexander McQueen scholar and presented a solo exhibition at Sarabande Foundation earlier in 2018. Her work is included in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 at Liverpool John Moores University as part of Liverpool Biennial 2018 and will tour to the South London Gallery in December 2018.

Commenting on the announcement, the artist said: “I am so excited to be selected for the Liverpool Biennial Fellowship with Liverpool John Moores University. It will be such a great opportunity for me to meet the students and staff at the university, and to engage with the amazing artistic practices and research culture going on there. I am especially grateful to be given the opportunity to have some teaching experience – I can’t wait to get more involved in the conversation and get a fresh perspective on my work. I have loved exhibiting in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 at Liverpool John Moores University, and am looking forward to presenting my performance work at Bluecoat in September as part of the show in Liverpool. This support is really going to push my practice forward and into exciting new directions.”  

Caroline Wilkinson, Director of Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Art and Design, said: “This fellowship was created to celebrate 20 years of Liverpool Biennial and in recognition of how difficult it is for emerging creative artists to develop their practice in the current economic climate. This is an exciting opportunity for the Liverpool School of Art and Design to support a talented new artist with facilities, collaboration and studio space, whilst also inspiring our art students by exposing them to creative practice and emerging talent.”

Sally Tallant, Director of Liverpool Biennial, said: “This is another example of how the Biennial works in partnership to support artists at every stage of their careers. Liverpool Biennial is more than this country’s largest contemporary art festival, we work every day to open up opportunities for artists to develop their practice and engage with Liverpool in meaningful ways. This is a new layer of that support, which we think is vital for the future.”

Kirsty Ogg, Director of New Contemporaries, said: “New Contemporaries has been supporting emerging practice and practitioners since 1949. We are delighted that as a legacy of the launch of the Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 exhibition at the Liverpool School of Art and Design that a Fellowship between Liverpool John Moores University and Liverpool Biennial has been awarded to one of this year’s participating artists Rosa Johan Uddoh. Rosa is a worthy recipient and the opportunity to engage with the University over the year-long Fellowship will directly impact on the development of her work.”

The Selection Panel comprised Rory Macbeth (Liverpool John Moores University and New Contemporaries alumnus), Professor Joasia Krysa (Liverpool John Moores University and Liverpool Biennial), Suki Seokyeong Kang (Liverpool Biennial 2018 artist and New Contemporaries alumnus), Kirsty Ogg (New Contemporaries) and Séamus McCormack (New Contemporaries).