Welcome to the Thomas Rotherham College
Fine Art, Graphics and Photography Online Exhibition 2021

2019 – 2021 has been, erm, a bit of rollercoaster to say the least! They had their first year disrupted with the first wave of Covid, and their second year again thrown into turmoil at the very last minute at the start of this year. Having been in and out of college like yoyo’s, these students have coped with one of the most unusual and disrupted A Level experience possible. But....Art, Graphics and Photography are surely easy to do at home I hear you say?! Not quite! The assumption that art subjects are not academic, are easy and are just based on talent is a common one. But I hope that this year can once and for all prove that they are much more than that, they require the utmost commitment, resilience and intelligence to think their way out of the limitations of lockdown. Our students have had to rely on their creative thinking, research skills and their sheer ingenuity to ensure we don’t have an exhibition filled with the exact same work.

All three subjects rely on students finding interesting and exciting things to be inspired by, to photograph, to draw and to create from. They have literally been robbed of locations, sitters and experiences that we would normally take for granted. This is why I think it is all the more extraordinary that the work you see in this exhibition is as varied, personal and engaging as any of our previous shows.

They have not been afraid to take risks or focus on deeply personal, sensitive and meaningful topics, in fact they have been forced to use their own experiences, surroundings and quite often, faces in their work. As well as the pandemic, students were inspired by political events such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the discussions of what privilege is, the migrant crisis, LGBTQ+ identity, climate change, over consumption and gender politics. The difference this year is that students have used their own experiences to explore these big issues.

They have captured and portrayed personal experiences, the sorrow of being forced to flee your home country and the anxiety of being trapped inside your own home. They have explored their own identities and how their experiences have shaped them. They’ve performed witchcraft by levitating boxes using stitch, thrown eggs in the classroom and been thrown off golf courses. In Graphics, students have looked at issues directly affecting their age group such as student debt, prejudice and diversity, the climate crisis and how design could help solve these issues. In Photography students have explored how the media manipulates women, how our over consumption is affecting climate change and even attempted to make sense of the fallout from Brexit. And in Art they have investigated philosophical ideas such as Nihilism, our relationship with food and the exploitation of young people in Rotherham. We are amazed, astounded and incredibly proud of the professional and serious manner with which our students have approached the monumental task of creating exhibition worthy work with such disruption.

Saying that, it’s not all been so serious. As staff, we have delivered cameras in the snow, chased escaped dogs and got very confused by doorbells and house numbers while delivering materials and equipment. Shared folders have been created for us and students to upload pet pictures into, to help us all get through those particularly hard days or create funny memes to give us a good chuckle. We’ve travelled the breadth and depth of South Yorkshire, met pets, parents and siblings (behind masks obviously!) and always been greeted with a sense of humour and gratitude. We have tried our hardest to make the best of a difficult situation and have been so impressed with how the students have paid us back with their exciting and beautiful work.

I would like to say a special thanks to parents and carers and anyone who has shared a household with one of our students during lockdown. We are eternally grateful for allowing students to paint, photograph, print and just generally create a huge mess in a space where you have all been confined. We know our subjects require materials and equipment, but above all they require space! So thank you for making your homes makeshift studios!

It is really hard to summarise this cohort, their experiences and their achievements. They will always be remembered as the year that road the rollercoaster of a worldwide pandemic, however, we will remember them as the year of squeezing giant canvasses into much smaller cars, meeting pets on teams and making the best memes. We will remember them for their honesty about their own experiences and how they were coping with the situation they are in. We will remember that despite everything, the work they have made stands up against any other year. And that, is something to be really proud of.

Please, enjoy this exhibition, it is fantastic, and where you can, congratulate the students on their great achievements.