Rachel Ara has been awarded with the NEAR NOW Fellowship 2017-18 for which she submitted some exciting work that they will work on together for the new year.

The Near Now Fellowship is aimed at emerging to mid-career artists. Near Now Fellows will display exceptional artistic talent, with work influenced by art, design and technology theory and praxis grounded in contemporary culture. Fellows will critically reflect on their work and have a desire to challenge their practice and push their career forward.

Applications are invited from artists, working in any art form, who use technology in their practice and/or explore the place and impact of technology in everyday life.

Over the ten month programme, three selected Fellows will receive support to originate and publicly present work that is bold in its scope, rigorous in its practice and open to critique.

Each Near Now Fellow will receive investment of up to £15k in support of their work.

Find more information on Near Now here.

Rachel Ara was further selected to be part of this year’s Ruth Borchard Prize Exhibition.

The fourth edition of the biennial Ruth Borchard Prize features 120 works by British and Irish artists, showcasing the very best of contemporary self-portraiture.

The Ruth Borchard Prize 2017 received a record number of submissions and this exhibition represents the short list of entrants. The Winner of the £10,000 Prize will be selected by a prestigious panel of judges including Dr Xavier Bray (Director, The Wallace Collection), Charlotte Mullins (art critic and author), Alastair Sooke, (broadcaster and art critic at The Daily Telegraph), Marilyn Scott (Director, The Lighbox), Shanti Panchal (2015 Winner), and Richard Borchard (son of Ruth Ruth Borchard). Previous winners of the Prize include Celia Paul (2011), Thomas Newbolt (2013), and Shanti Panchal (2015).

Ruth Borchard, a Jewish refugee from Hamburg who settled in Surrey, began collecting self-portraits in 1958.

The show runs from 18th May until 22 September 2017 at the Piano Nobile Gallery, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG.

Find more information about the Ruth Borchard Collection here.