FUTURE UTOPIA. Alice Made This X Studio Pi
Introducing Future Utopia, a series of illustrations from the award winning Studio PI, commissioned by Alice Made This, in support of the AMT Youth Programme (AMTYP).
Inspired by the words ‘Future Utopia’ six celebrated artists have created their personal interpretation of Future Utopia. This unique series uses Fine Art Giclée Printing in an archival print quality on a Fine Art Trade Guild approved responsible Hemp blend paper (acid free, lignin free and free from OBAs).
Each illustration is signed by the artist and editioned, with 100% of the profit is equally divided between the artist and AMTYP.
STUDIO PI
Studio PI is an award-winning photography and illustration agency that promotes equality and celebrates diversity.
The Government’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for Creative Diversity found that certain sections of society are greatly underrepresented in the creative industry: women; people of colour; people living with disabilities; and people from working-class backgrounds.
Studio PI’s founder Sachini Imbuldeniya, falls into all four of these underrepresented groups and launched the agency to redress the balance, with a mission to create a fair and unprejudiced place to work in. “This isn’t just about promoting diversity of people working in our industry,” she says. “It’s about creative diversity too. Clients and brands will benefit from a wider range of fresh voices, bringing with them a new perspective to the content we produce. It isn’t just the right thing to do in terms of supporting underrepresented talent – it makes our work better too.”
Studio PI currently has nine photographers and eleven illustrators on its roster, they were selected by a panel of 50 industry experts via a blind judging process where all names and biographies were removed to avoid any unconscious bias.
“As brands become increasingly more aware of the importance of diversifying their content, we have seen a positive increase in the ones that share our core values and want to collaborate more and more with fresh voices. Studio PI is a creative space that allows these voices to thrive, enabling them to reflect, through their own work, a more balanced visual representation of the world.”
www.studiopi.co.uk | @studiopi_uk
“We don’t know what the future will be, we will have to discover all step by step.” Ana
Ana’s approach to illustration is conceptual and much of her recent work has explored political, philosophical and social issues.
Born in Argentina, Ana was brought up in Barcelona and attended the city’s Escola Massana Art and Design Centre. Her teachers included award-winning illustrators Arnal Ballester, Pep Montserrat and Luci Gutiérrez. Ana also participated in the Albarracín International Illustration and Design Course.
Working in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Catalan, she has illustrated for books and several international titles including Mr Porter, The Observer, The Scientist, Forbes and Oprah Magazine.
Ana also co-runs an art shop with a permanent exhibition space in Barcelona.
“Taking inspiration from the photos of the Kirby Estate, in Bermondsey, during the 2020 Euros. The images of that council estate showed a diverse community unified and brought together by the joy and excitement of cheering on the England team. The St George’s flag was outside every flat in the estate. Endless ribbons of St George’s flag bunting draped from building to building. Images of young and old/black, white and brown; revelling and enjoying England’s run to the final.
This illustration isn’t a critique or a satire of those photos. I’m a huge football fan and I love the way football brings different people together and helps people create bonds through shared experiences. But I feel that it is a bit of a shame that that massive sense of passion, togetherness and community is only reserved for national sporting occasions. Wouldn’t it be great if people united and had that same passion for causes like; racial equality, gender equality and understanding and respecting LGBTQ+ rights.” Daryl
Filipino-born and raised in London, Daryl studied at Kensington and Chelsea College, before focusing on illustration at Camberwell College of Arts. Among his clients are Netflix, Adidas, Creative Review, The Times, Harry’s, COPA90, News UK, MATCH!, and Emirates FA Cup. He uses his colourful and distinctive technique to explore political themes as well as lifestyle, cultural cinema and sport.
“Be happy with what you’ve achieved so far. We are constantly evolving and what was once our future is soon our past... for me I really like to put the focus on positivity, being proud and seeing your own worth.” Frieda
This Berlin-based illustrator and graphic designer enjoys exploring how lettering, everyday symbols and even corporate design can express a personality or tell us something about a place, experience or character.
Although she always aspired to be a designer and illustrator, an initial lack of confidence in her artistic abilities led Frieda to study history at university instead. However, when both her parents were diagnosed with cancer, it made her reassess her own life and she decided to pursue what she really wanted to do.
Frieda loves to work with bold colours in her playful illustrations, whether responding to an editorial brief or a commission for a maternal health services leaflet, a website build or the packaging for a food brand. For her, taking on a brief and learning about a completely new subject is an exciting part of the creative process.
“Utopia always seems like a distant heavenly day dream, not easily achievable but still fun to dream about. I wanted to represent a utopia that was within anyone’s reach. It’s not a physical place, it’s a place that you have inside your mind. It’s your perception of the world around you, a deep feeling of contentment and satisfaction. Not chasing the next thing, not worrying about losing the good things in your life, utopia is right in front of you, it’s about enjoying that you are here and are in the now, and accepting things for what they are. It’s the quiet amongst the noise.” Harriet
Harriet is a London based cut paper illustrator. Much of her work explores interpersonal situations, through the use of joyful playful characters, and added depth with colourful layered paper.
After studying computer animation at Ravensbourne University London, Harriet spent the first three years of her career teaching. Alongside drawing, which Harriet has loved since childhood, education is a longstanding passion for her.
Her illustration style has evolved from working originally in digital formats, increasingly exploring shape, texture and colour with paper. Harriet loves the freedom of illustration and animation for their endless artistic possibilities. She has carried out a range of private commissions as well as site-specific work for a creative consultant.
Characters are central to Harriet’s work, and are often figures from history and science. Whether she is illustrating educational or lifestyle stories on a variety of platforms, her art has a joyful sense of movement about it.
“My concept for the piece was of a creativity spark contrasted with the silhouettes of young Black people and freedom to create.” Ngadi
Ngadi is a visual artist from Sierra Leone and divides her work mainly between the UK and Côte d’Ivoire.
She has studied art and design in the UK and at OCAD University in Canada, and lived in Côte d’Ivoire and Tunisia. Her illustration and collage creations explore identity, culture and sexuality from an African perspective.
Her work plays with texture and is colourful and unapologetic. She likes to deconstruct mainstream society’s preconceived views of what the definitions of “normal”, “beautiful” and “right” are.
Ngadi’s illustrations have appeared in The Atlantic, OneWorld magazine and Reportagen Magazine. She has also created work for publishing houses such as Riverhead Books in New York.
“Diverse community, feeling of oneness, support, nature as a part of us.” Sneha
Sneha is an illustrator and brand designer. She is inspired by her homeland, India, music, interiors, architecture and nature. She earned a fine art’s diploma and completed an engineering degree before becoming a graphic designer in Bangalore. Life has now brought her to London where she has continued to develop her career as an illustrator.
Her flowing, almost dreamy and colourful illustrations have featured in several books and been commissioned by a range of commercial clients, including BBC Three and Vice. Her work has underlying themes of wellness, mental health and self-development. The women in her work are based on herself or those who inspire her. She feels there is a lack of representation of people from different cultures and she strives to address that in her work.
@sneha.shanker
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What the money goes towards...
AMT Youth Programme
AMTYP supports young people aged 16-18 to gain experience, opportunities, and resources in the creative industries. The programme aims to illustrate the breadth of opportunity across the creative industries. It aims to give confidence and understanding, introducing a network of creatives that can help drive talent and passion.
The programme prioritises young people from African and Caribbean descent, based in South East London.
The focus of AMTYP is to support access and understanding of the range of creative roles in the industry, gather tangible experience for CV’s, and start building creative networks. This is done through:
Work Experience. We match young creatives with partners in the creative industry, to spend time shadowing and experiencing creativity in the workplace.
Creative Grants. Each applicant receives a grant of up to £500 in the form of creative training, equipment, or resources.
Creative Events. An on-going calendar of events for the alumni to access and experience. This includes career talks, meet-and-greets, studio tours, workshops and live projects with our partners and their extensive networks. These are free and unlimited to attend.
Contact amtyp@alicemadethis.com for more information or to donate to the programme.
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