Championing exceptional creatives has always been important to both Casio G-Shock and Dazed. Recently we teamed up for the watchmaker’s 30th anniversary to support young talents in music, art, fashion and sport who demonstrated the Spirit of Toughness by overcoming extraordinary odds. A winner in each category took home £3,000 to put towards their passion. Nine months later, we’re back to find out what they’ve done with their award money, and how they’re taking their work to the next level.
Contemporary south-London artist Rob Chavasse has been on active duty since winning the art category. “I have had group shows in London, and in Venice as part of Palazzo Peckham,” he says. “A solo show in London at The Sunday Painter has also taken up most of my time. This show was really important for me, marking an exciting development in my practice as I start to create works outside of the gallery and the studio.” While most of the £3,000 went to making his solo show a reality, he’s stashed away a good part for a research trip to the southern United States and Mexico, where he will “visit a load of land-art sites, important architectural buildings, big museums and smaller galleries. To see these historical land-art sites will be so important to where my work is at now.”
Cameron Alexander, shot by Sarah PiantadosiTaken from Sarah Piantadosi's 100 Portrait series
FASHION: SARAH PIANTADOSI
Sarah Piantadosi, the fashion winner, had no doubt about what she had planned for her bursary.“I spent the prize money on a year’s rent for a studio!” The photographer and filmmaker desperately needed space: “My studio is in a railway arch in Hackney. There’s a big open shooting space and an office tucked away on the mezzanine level. It’s quite private and serene, I love it.” At her new base she’s started work on a series of 100 portraits shot over the course of a year. The Casio G-Shock award removed the financial burden and gave her the freedom to focus on her art. “It’s changed the way I work in a big way.”
SPORT: ANDREW COTTON
Last time we caught up with surfer Andrew Cotton, he was riding the mammoth Devon swells. Since winning the sport category of the Casio G-Shock Awards, he’s been able to document his work. “I put the money towards filming and editing a short clip of a few of my biggest waves of the winter,” he says. “It’s great to be able to travel to big swells but also have a bit of budget to bring your own personal videographer.” He will soon be moving on to greater tides. “To surf the biggest waves in the world on a regular basis has always been a dream, so I’m just going to keep pushing towards that.”
MUSIC: DEPTFORD GOTH
“Winning the G-Shock award gave me the chance to buy a synth and a couple of other instruments I needed for writing and recording and a cellist to expand my live show,” explains London electronic musician Deptford Goth, whose inverted, experimental pop caught the ears of the judges in the music category. Working with choreographers and dancers to bridge the music and the live experience is just the start of his plans. “I’m doing more shows throughout the rest of the year and I’m writing new songs, so hopefully there will be another release in the near future.”
Cover photo: Rei Nadal, shot by Sarah Piantadosi, taken from the 100 Portraits series
