UWE Bristol graduate among winners of this year’s Portrait of Britain
A photograph captured by Ciara Hillyer, a photography graduate at UWE Bristol, is among the 100 winning images of the UK’s biggest annual photography exhibition.
Capturing the tapestry of life, the Portrait of Britain is a public art project of unrivalled scale. The winners were selected from an open call last summer asking for images that ‘celebrate the many faces of modern Britain’, pictures that capture the country’s unique traditions and diversity.
Ciara’s portrait of two boys Isaac and Nima had been taken after a football match in Wolverhampton.
Speaking to the BBC, she said: “I had gone to support a friend of mine, who has dwarfism, play football, and he introduced me to his friends.
"There is nothing contrived about the photo, it was a real honest moment between Isaac and Nima. As soon as I took it, I felt a wave of excitement because I knew it was a great image.
"The composition, the facial expressions, juxtaposition; everything aligned perfectly in that second. And the boys absolutely love it!"
Now these winning portraits, including Ciara’s photograph, will become part of a nationwide gallery, appearing on high streets, in shopping centres, train stations, airports, roadside poster sites, and iconic locations up and down the land throughout January.
“It is in each other that we see ourselves and form our sense of place,” says Mick Moore, CEO and Creative Director of British Journal of Photography, reflecting on the social value of the initiative. “Portrait of Britain captures the quirky, the mundane, the here and now of the extraordinary everyday in which we live.”
The public exhibition gives the photographers “a place to be seen and be visible in a world where so many pictures reside”, says Nadav Kander, one of this year’s judges, who is himself one of the world’s leading portrait photographers.
For Ciara, being selected as one of the 100 winners is a thrilling start to 2024 and a real boost to her career as a professional photographer after studying both BA and MA in Photography at UWE Bristol. Her final MA project ‘Breathing Space’ shined a light on her life with cystic fibrosis.
The 100 winning images from the Portrait of Britain will be exhibited on JCDecaux digital screens across the UK from 08 January, while 200 shortlisted images are featured in the Portrait of Britain Vol. 6 photobook, available now on Bluecoat Press.
Related news
09 April 2025
UWE Bristol academics shaping the future of design across disciplines
Three senior leaders from the College of Arts, Technology and Environment have been appointed to prominent national roles in architecture, art and design.
04 April 2025
New partnership between UWE Bristol and Bristol Creative Industries will develop student talent network
UWE Bristol and Bristol Creative Industries (BCI) have formed a new partnership to support Bristol’s thriving creative businesses and provide enhanced careers opportunities to students entering the industry.
03 April 2025
Interdisciplinary studio bridging the gap between creative industries and technology opens at UWE Bristol
A new £3.6m laboratory has opened at UWE Bristol which will provide a unique arts, humanities and technologies multi-disciplinary space for researchers, entrepreneurs and businesses across the West of England.
07 March 2025
UWE Bristol and Ashton Park School transform urban landscape near university campus
Students bring creativity and a splash of colour to a well-used city underpass by painting a new mural celebrating diversity and inclusivity.
07 March 2025
UWE Bristol students triumph at regional RTS Awards
UWE Bristol filmmaking and animation students won three categories of the RTS West of England Student Awards, held at Watershed in Bristol on 3 March 2025.
03 February 2025
Exhibition celebrates inaugural year of students’ creative agency
Students from UWE Bristol’s New Wave Creative Agency will showcase their work at an exhibition at Arnolfini from 8 February.
22 January 2025
Talent collaboration programme UWE Futures expands to support diversity in Bristol's legal and creative sectors
UWE Bristol's talent programme, UWE Futures, which offers paid work experience to global majority students, has expanded in its second year to include more legal firms and a leading organisation in Bristol’s creative sector.
07 January 2025
Assistant Vice-Chancellor selected to join Creative Industries Taskforce
Assistant Vice-Chancellor Lynn Barlow has become part of a new taskforce to help deliver a plan to grow the UK’s creative industries.
10 December 2024
UWE Bristol wins TIGA Games Industry Award
UWE Bristol has won an award for Best Education Initiative at the 2024 TIGA Games Industry Awards.
09 December 2024
UWE Bristol architecture students return from ‘once in a lifetime’ bamboo pavilion build in Ethiopia
UWE Bristol architecture students travelled to Ethiopia where they designed and constructed a large-scale bamboo pavilion in a park close to the capital city.
27 November 2024
Carol Vorderman receives honorary doctorate from UWE Bristol
Broadcaster and writer Carol Vorderman MBE has been awarded an honorary degree by UWE Bristol.
22 November 2024
UWE Bristol professor unveils blue plaque honouring Bristol’s Cary Grant
Dr Charlotte Crofts joined Historic England to unveil a blue plaque celebrating the Hollywood star.
You may also be interested in
Media enquiries
Enquiries related to news releases and press and contacts for the media team.
Find an expert
Media contacts are invited to check out the vast range of subjects where UWE Bristol can offer up expert commentary.