Orcadian woman wins top graduate fashion photography award

A fashion communications student from Orkney has been presented with a top photography award for students and graduates.

Heriot-Watt student Alannah Cooper was announced as the winner  of Graduate Fashion Week’s Fashion Photography Award on Wednesday, June 7, at a ceremony in London.

23-year-old Alannah is about to graduate with a BA (Hons) in Fashion Communication from the University’s School of Textiles and Design, in Galashiels. She won the award for her photographic publication Teran.

Teran is based on her experience of growing up in Orkney, looking to the poetry of her great grandfather’s first cousin, Robert Rendall, to inspire her work.

Commenting on her work, she said: “Growing up on a rural Scottish island often causes young people to feel conflict about their future. This uncertainty revolves around whether they will continue living on the island when they reach adulthood or if their ambitions will push them to leave, feeling they must do so in order to have a successful career.

“Teran considers this inner conflict and questions whether rural out-migration in young creatives can be reduced by providing them with successful role models and a means of looking at their home with fresh eyes.”