The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
City-based students take top art prize for illustrated storybook
COMPETITION: £7,500 John Byrne Award won by story about refugees
A pair of Dundee-based students have triumphed in one of Scotland’s most fiercely-contested arts prizes.
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design student Abriele Skaite, 25, paired up with Dundee University writer Thanos Kyratzis, 24, to win this year’s £7,500 John Byrne Award.
The pair won for Borders, an illustrated book based around interviews with migrants and refugees.
Writer Thanos has lived in Greece, Scotland, Spain and Germany, while illustrator Abriele has lived in Lithuania, Morocco and Scotland.
Thanos said: “Borders started as a discussion of things we have in common but each understands differently.
“Everyone had an opinion on the issue, whether that stems from their own lives or from the experiences of people they know.
“It is a project that surprised us many times as we were making it, and will hopefully surprise its readers just as much.
“It reflects the views of different people in today’s world, and poses interesting and necessary questions for the future.”
Both used their own personal experience as migrants to create the book, which contains 15 illustrated interviews on the theme with people whom Abriele and Thanos met while living in Scotland.
The pair put the book on online funding portal kickstarter at the start of February and it has attracted more than £2,400 from around 120 backers.
Borders triumphed over thousands of rivals to take the top prize at a star-studded event in Edinburgh last Saturday, hosted by BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway and attended by 1,000 guests.
Scottish actor Freya Mavor, best known for appearing in E4 hit drama Skins, presented the prize, named after artist and writer John Byrne, author of play the Slab Boys and ’80s TV hit Tutti Frutti.
Niall Dolan, CEO of The John Byrne Award, said: “The response to this year’s competition was phenomenal, with entries received from every part of Scotland, and the quality, depth and diversity of work was notable.”