One emerging artist will win the screaming pope prize

The Screaming Pope Prize is K-FEST’s very own unique visual arts award, including a cash prize of €1,000. A panel of judges comprising of acclaimed artists and critics selects the Screaming Pope Prize winner. Four finalists are also selected, each also receiving a cash prize.

James Hayes screaming pope prize winner 2021

2021 WINNER James Hayes

James is a professional visual artist, free-lance illustrator and qualified architect. His arts practice is centred around an existential and phenomenological exploration of the complex relationship that exists between self and surroundings. 

A native of Co. Kerry, his professional and educational background lies in architectural design, -holding a masters degree from UCD and postgraduate diploma from the University of Westminster. Having worked in architectural practice for a time both at home and abroad, in recent years he has specialised in painting and illustration -today dividing his time between his personal artistic practice and commercial illustration projects.

James’ Statement of his work:
I am inspired by many things: places, people, stories.. (both real and imagined). However I am particularly intrigued by the phenomenology of place. I’m interested in the way in which our experience of places and the relationships we forge with them exist as an ever-evolving, jumbled and reciprocal flow across the material, -immaterial and -emotional realms. I think there’s always a kind of quiet unseen interplay between our phenomenal experience of a place in the moment and our own internal meta-narratives. It is this elusive interaction and fluid dynamic which I am attempting to capture in my paintings.
My ambition for the work is that it might communicate or illicit a tacit human understanding of the wholeness of our spatial or ‘platial’ experience, encouraging a more-active awareness of our conscious and unconscious spatial understandings and the creative and transcendental potential that this awareness might provide, in terms of generating self knowledge, altering our perspective of our lives and of our everyday worlds. As the territory of my work is essentially betweenness and the dynamics at play between elements, it inherently has many further threads of source inspiration woven through it in a kind of plurality -these may be part autobiographical, part experiential, part literary. For me, painting has the potential to give particular complex form to a multitude of overlapping personal experiences, feelings, emotions, influences, and inspirations – capturing a blended expression of them, tied to a place at a particular moment in time.

Recognising outstanding emerging art

Screaming Pope Prize ceremony Killorglin
Screaming Pope Prize ceremony Killorglin

Mission Statement:
The Screaming Pope Prize (SPP) is one of Ireland’s most unique arts awards, exclusively organised by artists for artists as part of K-FEST. Given for a single outstanding work of visual art each year, the award is a self-funded, not-for-profit initiative celebrating emerging visual artists. The SPP recognises exceptional achievement from an emerging artist at this stage in their development. We aim to encourage the pursuit of excellence, and seek to help promote the highest standards of quality in the visual arts.

K-FEST’S HISTORY OF Screaming Pope Prize winners

Entering your artwork and the selection process

If you are selected to exhibit at K-FEST, you are automatically entered into the Screaming Pope Prize.

During K-FEST, a panel of Screaming Pope Prize judges visits every art exhibition and selects (after much heated debate) four finalists and an overall winner. During a ceremony and celebration during the last night of the festival weekend, the finalists and winner are announced. The Screaming Pope Prize includes a cash prize of €1,000 to help you on your artistic journey, and other perks courtesy of K-FEST.