The Graduates 2013: Bianca Tuckwell takes us on a journey through natural forms

IT’S HERE! After an exceptional run of freshly-graduated talent, our impressive spree of competition winners has come to a natural end. Don’t fret, though – we still have our very last winner to offer up to your eyeballs before the curtain falls.

We’ve already succumbed to the charms of Farnham graduate Bianca Tuckwell once before so we were pleasantly surprised to see her work pop up in our Graduates 2013 inbox. Her fascination with organic structures – from British birds nests in The Growth that is Our Own Cradle to Land, a beautiful study of a farm in New South Wales, Australia – aligns actual nature with human nature in a way which avoids both the sentimentality of straight-up portraiture and the impersonality of barren landscape photography.

For somebody so young to already have settled upon this magical equation is unusual to see, and Bianca executes the careful balance beautifully. Her third project, Ryder, is equally interesting, as it sees the structure of a bicycle visually dismantled into a representative series of lines, shapes and details which are then grouped together and isolated on a frame – calling up ideas of altered contexts in a really neat design. Enough from me though, here’s our final Graduate 2013 winner! Meet Bianca Tuckwell…

Why or who or what made you go to art school?

I am Australian and travelling to different European countries to discover unique design, architecture and visual culture was hugely inspiring for me. I would go so far to say that my life is guided by the visual shapes around me, whether organic or manmade. In particular London, Copenhagen and Tokyo were all cities that have played a large part in leading me to studying photography.

What’s the best mistake you made when you were studying?

The piece of work The Growth That Is Our Own Cradle was seeded from (but not dependant on) organic form and construction of the natural world around us. Initially, I was incredibly eager to collect soil samples from different parts of the country and document the difference in aesthetic.  I started with collecting some local soil and making a monument out the material by placing it on a plinth like you might see a in a museum or gallery. After posting the studio test shoot images I had done online and tagging the image with ‘still life, horseman, plinth, large format’ I found many of my peers commented on the test shoot with curiosity about why I had shot horse manure on a plinth.  The culmination of seeing the name of the large format camera I had used (called a Horseman) alongside seeing a mound of what could be animal excrement and misinterpretation of my choice of tagging terms, stopped me in my tracks and redirected me toward the study of a different organic object. It played significant part in the direction my overall project.

If you could show you your work to one person, who would you choose and what would you show them?

Definitely my late father who passed during my second year of Uni. I had always imagined that he would be able to read my dissertation, see my final major and witness my graduating. My most recent work paid respect to him but also resonated with some of the things he loved most; nature and the English countryside. I think he would have like the robin’s nest the most.

Can you give us one prediction about your work for the next year?

I am continually struck by organic form so I plan to continue studying and documenting nests. This time, however, the nests will be of a different variety.

What’s the best thing you saw in the last three years?

Definitely the YouTube clip Beach Boys Shred I Get Around

Represent

We are very pleased that The It’s Nice That Graduates 2013 is once again being supported by Represent Recruitment who are themselves celebrating being ten years old this summer. The graphic design recruitment specialists have developed a peerless reputation working with designers of all levels and matching them up with the right positions in some of the top agencies around. Represent’s support has helped us grow the Graduates scheme over recent years and we are thrilled they have partnered with us again in 2013.
www.represent.uk.com