Published: 21 Feb 2017
At the world premiere of Kate Davis’ Margaret Tait Award commission Charity (2017) on Monday 20 February, Glasgow Film Festival presented the 2017 Margaret Tait Award to Glasgow-based artist Sarah Forrest. Forrest will receive a £10,000 commission to produce a new work to be presented at Glasgow Film Festival in 2018.
Supported by Creative Scotland and LUX, the Award was founded in 2010 to support experimental and innovative artists working within film and moving image. Margaret Tait (1918–99) was an Orcadian filmmaker and writer whose film poems, hand-painted animations and documentaries were pioneering in the field of experimental filmmaking.
After studying at Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee, Sarah Forrest gained her masters from Glasgow School of Art in 2010, during which time she also studied at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam. Forrest has held solo exhibitions at CCA in Glasgow (Two Solo Shows: Sarah Forrest and Mounira Al Sohl in 2013), Supplement in London (I Left it on Page 32 in 2014) and Kunstraum Dusseldorf in Germany (Again, it objects in 2016). Her work has been presented at international film festivals, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2014) and she has completed numerous residencies, amongst these the inaugural Margaret Tait Residency in 2012.
Inspired by the wealth of creativity and talent emerging from artists working with the moving image in Scotland, the Award is given to an experimental Scottish or Scotland-based artist who has established a significant body of work within film and moving image over the past 3–10 years, and who is able to demonstrate the impact the Award will have upon their practice.
The 2017 Margaret Tait Award panel said: "We are extremely excited to see what Sarah will produce over the next twelve months, and look forward to viewing her completed work at Glasgow Film Festival 2018. Whilst all four proposals submitted for the 2017 Margaret Tait Award were thoughtful, considered and each with their own strengths, we ultimately decided that Sarah had both the significant body of work and ambition to push herself to the next level that the Award strives to honour."
Sarah Forrest said: "I’m delighted to receive the Margaret Tait Award. Her work and approach as a filmmaker and writer has been influential for me, so to receive an award that celebrates her legacy is a humbling experience. So too was my inclusion in a shortlist of such incredible artists. The work that I have proposed will begin with a period of research on the Isle of Lewis, where I will be looking initially at the island’s rich history of prophetic ‘second sight’, drawing from stories that I heard from my mother who grew up there. This work will build on recurring themes in my practice that look at appearance, perception, doubt and belief, with the commission being an exciting and significant opportunity for me to explore these in a longer form work."
Nicole Yip, Director of LUX Scotland, said: "Sarah Forrest is an artist who really exemplifies the level of ambition and tireless commitment to the moving image form that the Award seeks to recognise. In tracing the arc of her development since undertaking the Margaret Tait Residency in 2012, we have been so impressed by the way Sarah’s work has evolved and how her distinctive sensibilities in using sound and image have now become a hallmark of her practice. We are excited to see where her exploratory approach will take her in a new longer-form project and look forward to supporting her in shaping in her vision for this new work."
Mark Thomas, Creative Scotland, said: "We are delighted that Sarah Forrest has been chosen to receive the 2017 Margaret Tait Award and look forward to following her progress over the next 12 months as she creates a new work for the Glasgow Film Festival in 2018. Sarah joins a distinguished group of Scottish based artists whose work forms a rich collection of experimental filmmaking reflecting Margaret Tait’s legacy."
ENDS
Media Contact: sean.greenhorn@glasgowfilm.org
The 2017 panel consisted of a diverse range of experts and curators in the field of visual arts and cinema, including Katrina Brown (The Common Guild), Graham Domke (freelance writer and curator), Sean Greenhorn (Glasgow Film), Alexia Holt (Cove Park), Kirsten Lloyd (Edinburgh College of Art), Gayle Meikle (artist/curator), Emma Nicholson (Atlas Arts), Charlotte Prodger (artist and recipient of the 2014 Margaret Tait Award), Mark Thomas (Creative Scotland) and Nicole Yip (LUX Scotland Director). From the 25 artists who were nominated for the Award, four were then shortlisted by the panel and asked to submit proposals. The shortlisted artists were Jamie Crewe, Kimberley O’Neill and Margaret Salmon.
Kate Davis, recipient of the 2016 Margaret Tait Award, screened the world-premiere of Charity on Monday 20 February at Glasgow Film Festival 2017. Previous Margaret Tait Award recipients and commissions include Duncan Marquiss, Evolutionary Jerks & Gradualist Creeps (2015); Charlotte Prodger, The Stoneymolan Trail (2014); Rachel Maclean, Happy & Glorious (2013); Stephen Sutcliffe, Outwork (2012); Anne-Marie Copestake, And Under That (2011); and Torsten Lauschmann, At The Heart of Everything is a Row of Holes (2010).
The thirteenth Glasgow Film Festival runs 15 – 26 February 2017. The festival opened with the European premiere of John Butler’s Handsome Devil and will finish with the world premiere of Robert Mullan’s Mad to Be Normal at a gala screening to be attended by actor David Tennant.
LUX SCOTLAND is an agency with an international remit to support and promote artists working with moving image in Scotland. Established in 2014, it is the only agency of its kind in Scotland. Drawing on the resources of LUX – including its collection of over 7,000 works by over 1,500 artists from the 1920s to the present day – LUX Scotland’s core activities include exhibition and public programming, touring projects, commissioning, production support, research, publishing, education, professional development and the establishment of a new Scotland-centred distribution collection of artists’ moving image work. LUX Scotland is part of LUX, which is a registered charity and not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. LUX Scotland receives support from Creative Scotland and The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. www.luxscotland.org.uk / www.lux.org.uk
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com. Follow us @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland
