Clement Cahen
Bottisham Village College
Title : Growing Up
Category :
CC: “My design shows you don't choose to be a teenager, but that you are influenced into becoming an adult by other factors, and that the teen brain is somewhere between an adult and a child brain. The machine represents the effect of hormones as it sprays chemicals into the brain and the 'mould' into which an adult is expected to fit into. The brain is being pushed towards adulthood by expectations, peer pressure and responsibility. I made the child brain bright and colourful because you are more free to do what you want as a child, and the adult brain as grey as the 'mould' into which adults are expected to fit is boring and dull. Some colours are overflowing from the 'child brain' to represent the greater freedom you have as a child, like the colours that are free to err outside the brain. The 'child brain' bulges at the machine to show it doesn't fit into the expected mould. Inside the brain, I wrote some aspects of the adult and child brain, and, more or less, in the order they tend to appear or disappear. Again, the colours of the words are to show the duller expectations for a child. I used watercolour paints because they are best adapted to my design than other methods available. Watercolours can give a soft effect and the colours usually associated with the brain are soft. My painting shows that you don't necessarily want to become an adult, but different factors make you. It also shows that a teen brain is a child brain becoming an adult brain, but that it still retains aspects of the child which conflict with those of an adult.”
Judges comments: “Brilliant use of watercolours, nice concept and thoughtful. A good piece of work.
The message is clear, the finish is not as strong as the concept here.”