Coronation tea party date for BA Illustration students

10 May 2023

UWTSD BA Illustration students attended a Coronation tea party at Lauderdale House, in London after winning the [Extra]Ordinary Portraits Competition organised by The Royal Drawing School to mark this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day.

UWTSD BA Illustration student presenting her portrait of a lady who was affected by the Holocaust, genocide or identity-based persecution. The two females stand each side of the portrait smiling, the portrait looks exactly like the lady with flowers in the background of it.

[Extra]Ordinary Portraits is a collection of artworks that reveal the ‘extraordinary elements of seemingly ordinary people’. Young people across the UK were asked to learn about someone affected by the Holocaust, genocide or identity-based persecution and create a portrait of them.

Judges included photographer Rankin, Royal Drawing School Director Harry Parker, artist Gideon Summerfield and Antoinette Mutabazi, survivor of the genocide in Rwanda. They were joined by HMDT Trustee Tulip Siddiq MP and CEO Olivia Marks-Woldman OBE.

Nahum Hughes, Ellie Ball, Ellis Jones, Nancy Akuffobea and Kate Paddock, all first year BA Illustration students at the University’s Swansea College of Art, were amongst 30 successful entries and also had their work shown as part of the Holocaust Memorial Day online film, which was screened on January 26, and viewed by thousands of people across the country.

UWTSD Lecturer Rebecca Ellis and BA illustration students Nahum Hughes, Ellie Ball, Ellis Jones, Nancy Akuffobea and Kate Paddock stand as a group holding up the portraits they have created for the [Extra]Ordinary Portraits Competition.

Rebecca Ellis, BA Film and TV programme manager and lecturer in Illustration and Film said: “The students attended the party so they could present their winning portraits to the survivors present.

“The Duke of Gloucester was in attendance and spoke to the students congratulating them individually. It was very emotional when the students presented their portraits. They then sat on the table of their survivor so they could learn all about their stories and family and together they had afternoon tea. All the students were extremely moved by the event – it was a day we’ll never forget.”

Caroline Thraves, Academic Director (Art and Media) said: “This was such a wonderful experience for our students to learn from these incredible and indeed extra ordinary individuals. Our students demonstrated once again that not only are they extremely talented but that at Swansea College of Art the contribution we make to society is embedded in our very ethos.”