Frith Prize for 2022-2023 goes to Mridul Harbhajanka
The Cultural Studies Department is proud to announce that the winner of the 2022-2023 Gregory R. Frith Memorial Prize is Mridul Harbhajanka.
Mridul produced a video, "Jor Se Bhagega." (digital, colour, sound), for Professor Joshua Synenko’s CUST 4136H: Workshop: Computational Arts. In her artist statement, she writes:
"Jor Se Bhagega" is a sentimental artwork that connects with my childhood in India and relates to the bittersweet emotional experience of growing up, moving out, and leaving your home behind. It is a layered project that relies on a map for its evolution, with a system of latitude and longitudinal coordinates determining the colours and music. Much like the uncertainty experienced in moving to a different country, the methods used to develop this project are arbitrary and unpredictable.
The committee was touched, disoriented, and variously provoked by this strange (yet strangely integrated) combination of intimate, affectively moving images and experimental, algorithmic temporal flows generated by the musical processes and colour-coded indexing systems at work.
The Department offers sincere congratulations to Mridul, and best wishes for in her future work. More information on the Frith and Wernick Prizes, including a list of previous recipients, can be found on our Academic Prizes page.