The Self-Portrait Prize 2015

In 2015, a prestigious panel of judges including Thomas Newbolt (Winner of the prize in 2011), Charles Suamarez Smith (Secretary and Chief Executive of Royal Academy of Arts), Simon Martin (Artistic Director of Pallant House Gallery), Jackie Wullschlager (Chief Art Critic for the Financial Times) and Dr Robert Travers (Director of Piano Nobile) selected the work of Shanti Panchal as the winner of the third biennial self-portrait prize.

Influenced by the loss of his studio Panchal expresses the basic human need for shelter. He wrote how he, “was being stripped naked of the things I had worked for over many years”. Wearing nothing but a Hindu prayer bead round his neck he highlights the importance of heritage at times of uncertainty. Through his work he documents his own experiences and position within the complex continuum of time and space.