Honorary MCR wins award for Man on Fire Sculpture.
Honorary member of Common Room, contemporary visual artist and sculptor Tim Shaw RA has won the 2024 PSSA Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture for his art piece Man on Fire. The announcement was made on 17th October at the Art Workers’ Guild in London, during an awards ceremony where Man on Fire was recognised among an outstanding shortlist of works, including pieces by Yinka Shonibare, David Blandy & Larry Achiampong, Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, and Nick Hornby.
The PSSA Marsh Award plays a crucial role in raising awareness and educating the public about the importance of public sculpture, connecting contemporary life with history. Tim Shaw’s Man on Fire, completed in 2023 and situated outside the Imperial War Museum North in Greater Manchester, was recognised for its compelling narrative and powerful form.
The award-winning sculpture Man on Fire depicts a person caught in an inferno between life and death. Tim has described that the work is influenced by several events including riots in Basra in 2005 during the Iraq War, the Glasgow Airport attack in 2007 and a visit to Pompeii to see plaster impressions of those buried alive by volcanic ash.
Tim Shaw became an honorary member of common room in May 2019 in gratitude for his generous long-term loan of artwork to the college. St Cross College also purchased an art piece from Tim Shaw’s collection entitled “Mother, the air is blue, the air is dangerous” which is on display in the large Seminar room in the West Wing.
You can read more about his award and his art here.
