Noah hangs out with art royalty
BRAVE YOUNGSTER’S AWARD-WINNING SELFIE IS DISPLAYED AT CHRISTIE’S
A BRAVE eight-year-old boy with a very rare lung condition had his photography displayed alongside some of the country’s most renowned artists after winning a national competition.
Huddersfield boy Noah McNeill was one of the winners of the ‘WellChild Through a Lens’ competition, and saw his work displayed at Christie’s auction house in London alongside the likes of Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley and Rankin.
The competition aimed to show what life was like for young people with serious health needs and gave them a chance to tell their own story through photography.
Noah suffers from a rare form of interstitial lung disease which means that he has a gastronomy tube to feed him water, needs a tracheotomy and, at night, a ventilator to help him breathe.
However, his winning photo, titled Me and the Miner, shows that the condition doesn’t stop Noah from trying new things.
His mum Jill said the visit to the mine 140 metres underground shows how far the family had come. She added: “An ambulance would not be able to access us at all down there however I had all the emergency equipment and I had been trained to the highest standard and I also had an excited son who wanted to do what all the other kids did and so I felt confident to carry on.”
Judges for the competition included renowned photographers Rankin and John Swannell, as well as TV presenter and
WellChild Ambassador Gaby Roslin.
While Noah’s work sat alongside art royalty, it was also viewed by actual royalty with the photos on display at a private reception ahead of this year’s
WellChild awards, which was attended by patrons The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The competition formed part of the WellChild Helping Hands Art Auction which will took place at Christie’s last week.