Gateway to British Art Prizewinners 2022

Now in its third year, the Gateway to British Art Prize is offered by the Yale Center for British Art in partnership with Gateway Community College (GCC). The program encourages students across academic disciplines to select one artwork from the museum's collection and to write about it in a thoughtful, persuasive way. Their essays offer fresh interpretations and deeply personal perspectives on familiar works.

 

First place: CJ Perez

Perez explores how J. M. W. Turner's Staffa, Fingal's Cave (1831 to 1832) captures a unique moment in history and also speaks to our present-day concerns.

Read his essay

Second place: Yasmina Elsayed

For Elsayed, A Frank Encampment in the Desert of Mount Sinai (1856) by John Frederick Lewis evokes memories of Egypt and reflections on tensions between East and West.

Read her essay

Runner-up: Youssra Al Mtit

Al Mtit looks closely at an idyllic scene to discover darker resonances in William Henry Millais's Hayes Common (1852 to 1853).

Read her essay

Runner-up: Kaitlyn Madigan

John Scarlett Davis's The Interior of the British Institution Gallery (1829) sparks Madigan's reflections on art viewing, art making, and the ways art transports us through time.

Read her essay

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Gateway to British Art 2022 prizewinners Kaitlyn Madigan, CJ Perez, Yasmina Elsayed, and Youssra Al Mtit (left to right)