Last Thursday, an audience of staff and students was treated to three superb talks from the trio of sixth formers who have been working this term on the ARTiculation competition. An annual competition run by the Royal Academy, ARTiculation aims to promote the appreciation and discussion of visual culture.

This term, Miss Waterhouse and Mrs Fletcher worked closely with Finlay, Shuayb and Nizzar, our competitors to represent Wilson’s in the regional heat for London. Each student chose an area of particular interest, reflecting a personal connection they identified with a work of art.

Finlay, a passionate film afficionado, selected 8½ by Federico Fellini, a ground-breaking work of Italian cinema. He identified the opening sequence as of particular interest and singled out four still images to explore, highlighting the particular skill Fellini showed as a cinematographer in arranging the images. Finlay’s speech was exciting and enthusiastic. Nizzar, a budding engineer, selected the BMW Art Cars project. He narrowed his selection to three particular cars, including one designed by Roy Lichenstein, and spoken passionately about the difference Art had made to his life. His speech was sincere and moving. Shuayb, a modern polymath—poet, mathematician and artist—selected The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo to explore. He interwove his own conception of his identities with Frida Kahlo’s surrealist self-portrait and even spoke Spanish in his presentation. His speech was compelling and fascinating.

All three students had worked so hard to prepare their speeches. They captivated their audience and spoke with genuine conviction. Mr Lissimore and Mr Coop joined the audience to select the winner, and were thoroughly impressed by the students’ work. After a long deliberation, Shuayb was selected as our entrant to the regional heat, narrowly edging the competition over Finlay and Nizzar. The judges were keen to stress that all three students could easily have represented Wilson’s with aplomb and that each student was a credit to the school. It must also be noted that the students were particularly supportive of each other, listening carefully to speeches, suggesting improvements and helping to move the slides along during their speeches.

Many thanks are owed to Miss Waterhouse for championing this competition and working so supportively with the students. And good luck to Shuayb as he moves forward into the regional heat in January at the Royal Academy—look out for a further report on the Website!