WLC Students Selected to Exhibit at Origins Creatives

Two West London College students have been selected by the University of the Arts London to exhibit their work at Origins Creatives in London’s Brick Lane this month. Jack Kennedy, studying Digital Design Level 3.1, and Om Majithia, studying Art and Design Level 2 have both been chosen to exhibit their work at Origins Creatives, taking place at the Truman Brewery in July.

Jack Kennedy’s submission, titled ‘Outsider’, is a powerful exploration of the discrimination the Irish Traveller community faces, told through the medium of what appears to be high-end packaging of luxury boxing gloves. 

Jack says: “These gloves provide social commentary on the alarmingly high suicide rates amongst young males in the Irish Traveller community, inspired by an original poem included with the product. The textile design is achieved through a combination of digitalised lino-print and coloured pencil printed onto a vegan leatherette.”

Om Majithia’s submission, a helmet titled ‘Frujion II’, was inspired by ceremonial helmets, and designed to demonstrate an angry facial expression. It was created from fruits and vegetables of various sizes. Each piece was individually handcrafted by Om from a skeletal structure constructed from recycled cardboard. He covered the cardboard models with clay and painted them with acrylics. Influenced by ‘Star Wars’ character, Darth Maul, African tribal masks and Men-Yoroi, types of facial armour that were worn by the samurai class and their retainers in feudal Japan, this ornate artwork is a recreation of Om’s samurai character design, who would have worn a steel version to intimidate his opponents. 

Om said: “Whilst this helmet was constructed to perfect my understanding of colour theory and because of my passion for creating 3D models, I actually created this to represent global warming. I wanted to metaphorically portray the angered expression as the greenhouse gas effects that have been sharply increasing from the transportation of the non-indigenous fruits and vegetables to the UK that arrive from around the world.”

Lorna Acikalin, Programme Lead for Digital and Creative at WLC, said: “We are thrilled that two of our students have been selected to exhibit their work at UAL’s Origins Creatives from over 400 submissions nationally.”

Origins Creatives is organised by UAL Awarding Body and provides art lovers, critics and industry professionals from the creative sector the chance to discover original creative talent from across the UK and celebrate students’ creativity and hard work.

University of the Arts London (UAL) is Europe’s largest specialist art and design university, comprising six renowned colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Arts. UAL is their Awarding Body, regulated by Ofqual, CCEA Regulation and Qualifications Wales. They offer qualifications in art and design, fashion, creative media, music and performing and production arts.

The free exhibition showcases work from some of the UK’s most talented students in FE institutions studying across the UAL subject areas of Art and Design, Fashion Business and Retail, Creative Media, Music Performance and Production and Performing Arts.

This year, Origins Creatives will be an in-person exhibition at The Truman Brewery in Shoreditch (G4 + G5, The Truman Brewery, Ely’s Yard, Shoreditch, E1 6QP). The exhibition will open with an invite-only private view on 20 July at 6pm. It will be open to the public from the 21 to 23 July (Friday 21 July, 10.30 to 5pm; Saturday 22 July, 10.30am to 5pm; Sunday 23 July, 11am to 3pm), alongside an online showcase.

The exhibition will showcase selected work created by students from Levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 across all subject areas. You can expect to see a diverse range of painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, fashion and more.