Photography student finishes first in CICan national art competition

In her previous career as an interior decorator, Angi Watson always sought ways to reuse or repurpose things that might otherwise end up in landfill sites.

So when the first-year Honours Bachelor of Photography student was assigned with photographing plastic in an interesting way, Watson naturally took things a bit further — creating models of fish out of flattened pop bottles as part of an exhibit demonstrating the effect that plastics have on our oceans.

That exhibit, titled The Plastic Evolution, went on to finish first in the Textile/Mixed Media/Sculpture/Printmaking category of this year’s Colleges and Institutes Canada (CiCan) Art Showcase, a competition that attracted more than 100 submissions from across the country. Watson received a $500 cash prize courtesy of TD Insurance, and her work is prominently displayed in the front entrance of CICan’s office inside the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa as well as on the CICan website.

“I wanted to make a statement about the environment,” says Watson, who didn’t know about the contest until after she’d completed the project, “but having my vision recognized as something worth looking at is extremely validating. I was proud to represent Sheridan.”