Milton Keynes artist who paints mainly in blues wins Ingram prize

Saint Takyi says she leans on blue’s “rarity in nature” to create environments with figures that symbolise the stories from her daydreams and memories.

Her art fuses elements of Ghanaian folklore and worldbuilding with anthropological photography.

As a child she explored the green spaces in Milton Keynes and fell in love with nature, a present aspect of her paintings. A former pupil at The Radcliffe School in Wolverton, Saint spent most weekends in the Milton Keynes market, soaking up the culture of the diverse community.

She was able to repay that community by creating a mural for the stalls as part of the MKGallery x RESOLVE Collective project.

Saint went on to study Fine Art with a master’s at The Royal College of Arts. Her selected work for the Ingram prize, ‘Emerging

Pasts’, was born out of a desire to connect with her unknown ancestors in Ghana.

Now in its ninth year, the Ingram Prize was founded by philanthropist Chris Ingram and is awarded to four winners whose works are acquired for The Ingram Collection, one of the largest publically-accessible collections of modern British art in the UK.

Jo Baring, Director of The Ingram Collection said: “Each artist has brought such a unique perspective to their work, exploring form and material in ways that are both innovative and deeply engaging. It’s so exciting to see their talent and creativity being recognised.”