UCA students awarded prestigious British Council Venice Fellowship

The British Council’s 2026 Venice Fellowship Programme will form part of the 61^st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale – one of the most internationally recognised and prestigious art festivals.

Taking part in this year’s programme are MA Fine Art student, Ahmed Umer Farooqi and PhD student, Camille Serisier. They’ll have the opportunity to represent the UK internationally, serve as ambassadors for the British Pavilion exhibition (curated by world-renowned British artist Lubaina Himid), and develop their own research project.

Ahmed’s interests span from cities and transformation to the politics embedded in built environments. This opportunity to develop his research in Venice will begin with a simple observation: how the city reveals itself through its bricks.

He explained: “Constantly replaced by rising water, salt, and time, forming a subtle patchwork of old and new, each brick carries traces of erosion, survival, and transformation. I see this [research] not simply as maintenance, but as an archive. This shifting surface becomes a metaphor for displacement and layered histories, where cycles of occupation, from colonial movement to contemporary tourism, leave their mark on the city.

“I’m most excited about being in Venice itself, encountering these textures and histories up close, and engaging with a community of artists and researchers, where the city becomes both site and collaborator."

Camille plans to create a reflexive journal about Lubaina Himid’s 2026 British Pavilion installation. It will include creative writing, drawings, and photographs that record her experiences of Himid’s work and her observations about how it is received.

Her doctoral research is part of UCA’s research project, Fast Forward: Women in Photography. This Venice project is a pilot for how she might collaborate with museums and galleries in the future that are interested in engaging with diverse voices and perspectives.

She said: “I was surprised and delighted to be selected for the 2026 Fellowship programme. The Venice Biennale is an amazing event, bringing together some of the most exciting creative practitioners in the world to explore the pressing issues of our time.

“The opportunity to explore the Biennale with a group of Fellows, each with their own intriguing forms of creative engagement, is a gift.”

MA Photography Lead, Dr. Caroline Molloy, who supervised the student applications, also led on UCA’s successful bid to become one of the 2026 Venice Fellowship Programme Partners.

To follow their journeys, visit these Instagram pages: @thatahmed , @camilleserisier and @BritishArts.

To learn more, visit the British Council website: Venice Fellowships 2026.