WIREDGOV

An artist whose innovative and inclusive projects have been supported by Arts Council England will now have her work shown on a giant digital screen thanks to a collaboration with tech giants, Apple.

Acclaimed award-winning disabled artist, Tanya Raabe-Webber, whose Arts Council National Lottery funded Portraits Untold project explored identity and humanity, has been commissioned by Apple to undertake a residency at their flagship store in Regent Street, London for their Today At Apple programme.

From June until October Tanya will be undertaking a series of monthly in-store live events for the public to take part in, looking at portraiture through different artistic techniques and approaches.  At the end of each session, a digital mural of Tanya’s work and the work of the people taking part will be created, directed by Tanya and shown on the Apple Regent Street store giant screen.

In 2016, Tanya was awarded £49,338 funding through Arts Council England and National Lottery’s Grants for the Arts programme for Portraits Untold. The series of four ambitious live events in public settings explored and celebrated humanity and diversity, and saw Tanya create portraits that fused digital and traditional drawing and painting techniques. Audiences were able to see the artist in conversation with the sitters as they explored what it is to be human through stories about their life and work.

The unique project involved four high profile subjects who have overcome adversity to achieve greatness, in well-known venues across the country. These included acclaimed virtuoso percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie at the National Portrait Gallery, Stoke City FC mascot and subject of the BBC BAFTA award-winning film Marvellous, Neil Baldwin at Stoke City Football Club, artist, filmmaker and recipient of BAFTA’s lifetime achievement award John Akomfrah OBE at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and star of Channel 4’s The Divine David and avant-garde performance artist David Hoyle at National Trust property Beningbrough Hall.

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