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#SaatchiSelfie Competition Winner Announced

- 8 years ago

Saatchi Gallery and Huawei have announced the winner of the #SaatchiSelfie competition as Dawn Woolley from Cambridge with her selfie The Subsitute [holiday] 

The #SaatchiSelfie competition was launched on the 23rd January as part of the From Selfie to Self-Expression exhibition at Saatchi Gallery. Dawn was announced as winner at Saatchi Gallery on Thursday 30th March at the launch of the From Selfie to Self-Expression exhibition. The winning image was selected from over 14,000 entries by judges Tracey Emin, Idris Khan, Juergen Teller, Juno Calypso and Saatchi Gallery CEO, Nigel Hurst.

The winning ‘selfie’ from Dawn Woolley Cambridge, United Kingdom The Substitute [holiday] © Dawn Woolley 2017

The winning image will be exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery alongside a shortlist of the other nine best selfies submitted to the competition from 31st March, through until the 30th May, while a digital wall in the Gallery will show all 14,000 submissions from the competition.

Dawn Woolley, #SaatchiSelfie competition winner told PhotoBite: “Primarily my artwork is self-portraiture, but not in the traditional sense. In the work I create a photographic copy of myself and place it in the real world instead of me. By creating artwork that establishes me as an object it could be argued that I produce photographs that reinforce stereotypical images of the female body, but with apparent exhibitionism, I create a substitute that renders my real body invisible.  The substitute series was taken in a variety of location including Cardiff, London, Malta and Paris. It is an ongoing project that began in 2008.”

Felicia Hodoroabă-Simion Romania Walk with myself in the park © Felicia Hodoroabă-Simion 2017

As the overall winner, Dawn wins an all expenses paid trip to join a Leica Photography Ambassador on an international photo shoot assignment and the ten shortlisted artists will each receive the P10, Huawei’s newest smartphone featuring dual Leica lenses.

Van O Moscow, Russian Federation Predators © Van O 2017

The ten shortlisted photographers are as follows: Sarah Carpenter [UK], Finnian Croy [UK], Debora De Haes [Belgium], Ollie Hayward [UK], Felicia Hodoroaba-Simon [Romania], Andy Kassier [Germany], Van O [Russian Federation], Patrick Gonzales [France], and Ola Walkow [Canada].

Patrick Gonzales Dijon, France Untitled – #4 © Patrick Gonzales 2017

Nigel Hurst, CEO Saatchi Gallery
“The range, diversity and creative flair of 14,000 entries exceeded all our hopes and expectations, so it was difficult to choose ten to shortlist, let alone one overall winner. We hope that the competition has encouraged anyone with a smartphone to realise its potential as an artistic tool, and inspire them to document their daily lives with even more creative vigour.”



“My only dream was about being beautiful, but it was hurting me…. I had to do it…..”


Ola Walków, Warsaw, Poland

From Selfie to Self-Expression
Opens [today] at the Saatchi Gallery 31st March 2017, From Selfie to Self-Expression presented by Huawei is the world’s first exhibition exploring the history of the selfie from the old masters to the present day and will celebrate the truly creative potential of a form of expression often derided for its inanity. The show will also highlight the emerging role of the smartphone as an artistic medium for self-expression.

About the author

Read #SaatchiSelfie Competition Winner Announced

Simon Skinner

Co-founder // Editor

Having spent many years working in various pockets of the music industry, and always with a camera in hand, Simon has worked with organisations such as Warner/Chappell, Food Records and ultimately, co-founding the innovative independent record label, Izumi Records before moving fully into the world of publishing in 2007. Amongst numerous other projects in the last decade, he has been responsible for a number of specialist photo trade magazines and journals for the filmmaking and photography communities, along with a coffee table book entitled, "Great Britons of Photography' which he produced with Peter Dench and Leica. Now heading up PhotoBite, Simon and the team have set themselves a task of delivering informative and inspirational content for photographers of all levels, from the beginner, shooting with smartphones, to the seasoned photographer and filmmaker.