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![HOLLYWOOD AWARD FOR ‘THE MAKING OF LIVERPOOL’ ANIMATION
The Singh Twins, have recently returned home from Hollywood with two awards. The first, the ‘Creative Media Award’ for their animation film ‘The Making of Liverpool’. The second, the ‘Heritage Award’, for “outstanding achievement in art”.
Both Awards, were bestowed on the Twins by The Spinning Wheel Film and Art Festival - a three day, red carpet event hosted at the prestigious Writers Guild Theatre in the heart of Beverly Hills. The Gala opening of the festival was a glamorous and colourful affair with the dress code being Maharaja and Maharani themed!
Attending as an invited guest was Kate Amend A.C.E. (editor of two Oscar-winning films and recipient of the International Documentary association’s Outstanding Achievement in Editing award, amongst others) who described ’The Making of Liverpool’ as “brilliant and magical”.

Above: Arriving at the Gala opening of the Spinning Wheel Film & Art Festival at Hollywood’s Writers Guild Theatre, the Singh Twins pause for a photo with festival director, Bicky Singh (turbaned) and Hollywood-based film producer, Michael Singh.

Above: The Singh Twins receiving their second Award of the evening, the ‘Creative Media Award’ for ‘The Making of Liverpool’.
Prior to Hollywood, The Singh Twins attended the screening of ‘The Making of Liverpool’ at the Toronto Spinning Wheel Film Festival, accompanied by Andy Cooper, head of the ‘Sparkle’ animation team that worked on the film. After its screening, Andy wowed the audience with an audio-visual presentation on the making of ’The Making of Liverpool’. One of the main aims of his presentation was to inspire and encourage any would-be young filmmakers amongst the audience to take up animation as their medium - and his mission was certainly accomplished as several youngsters left the theatre all fired up and excited to have a go. So, well done to Andy!

Above: The Singh Twins with Andy Cooper outside the Isabel Bader Theatre in down town Toronto.
SINGH TWINS ANIMATION FEATURED ON THE BBC
The Singh Twins made their own contribution to history on August 18th with the UK Premier Private Preview and Press Launch of their first animation film, titled ‘The Making of Liverpool’, at FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology). The film received standing ovations and will now go on to be showcased at film festivals world wide - starting with the Spinning Wheel Film Festivals in Toronto and LA. A BBC interview with The Singh Twins, filmed at the Liverpool offices of ‘Sparkle’ - the animation company who worked on the film - featured on ‘Look Northwest’ news. [CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS BBC TV BROADCAST]

The Singh Twins with ‘Sparkle’s animation team (from left to right):
Neil Parsons
Mike Snowdon
Tom Crate
Andy Cooper
Steve Maguire
Heidi Duff
at ‘The Making of Liverpool’ private preview party.

Songwriter Steve Mason & Actor Mark McGann being photographed with The Singh Twins by Liverpool Daily Post after the animation screening at FACT.
[CLICK HERE TO READ THE DAILY POST ARTICLE ABOUT THE EVENT]
Written, directed and produced by The Singh Twins with the aid of Arts Council England funding, the film - titled, ‘The Making of Liverpool’ - brings 800 years of Liverpool history to life through an animated exploration of one of their well known public commission paintings, ‘Liverpool 800:The Changing Face of Liverpool’ (see below). It celebrates the historical and cultural achievements and changing identity of their home City and is their personal contribution and permanent legacy to its status as European Capital of Culture 2008.
The project, which is a multi arts collaboration, was inspired by a desire to showcase the Liverpool’s fascinating history and creative talent to global audiences.

The Singh Twins worked closely with Liverpool based Sparkle Media who created the animated sequences and with the well-known, Liverpool born actor, Mark McGann, who has done the narration. The animation also features a new song about Liverpool called ‘City With Wings’ - written, composed and performed by established Wirral based singer songwriter Steve Mason. Although written independently, the song, compliments perfectly, both the Singh Twins’ painting and the poem they wrote which serves as the animation’s narrative.
The resulting film is a fascinating example of “art in motion”, which crosses over the traditional boundaries between fine art and documentary. Although only 13 minutes, 23 seconds long, the animation has taken over six months to produce!
SIKHS IN PRINT EXHIBITION
Curated by The Singh Twins for Liverpool based Asian arts promoters, ‘MILAP fest’, the ‘Sikhs In Print exhibition held at St George’s Hall from April to June 2008, was a great success.
The exhibition was inaugurated on 23rd April by the Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev James Jones, live on BBC radio merseyside’s Roger Phillip’s Show as a joint celebration of St George’s Day and Vaisakhi. and was thought to be the first of its kind in the UK - highlighting images from the The Singh Twins’ personal archive of historic printed images pertaining to the Sikh community and its ongoing connection with British history.

Amongst the several distinguished guests to visit ‘Sikhs In Print’ was the former President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam who was in Liverpool to attend as key not speaker at the ‘Big Hope Global Youth Congress’ held at Hope University at which The Singh Twins also presented a talk on their work.

Above: The Singh Twins escort the Dr Kalam around the Sikhs In Print Exhibition at St George’s Hall.
The exhibition was also mentioned as a highlight of Liverpool’s ‘European Capital of Culture‘ year events during a reception (attended by The Singh Twins) held in honor of Sikh veterans and hosted by Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at St James Palace, London.

Above:The Singh Twins chat with Prince Charles and Camilla at St Jame’s Palace, London
Due to the great interest received the exhibition is due to tour elsewhere in the UK and abroad.
THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WOMEN IN WORLD HISTORY
The Singh Twins have been entered into the Oxford Encyclopedia Of Women in World History by Bonnie G. Smith. Published by Oxford University Press in 2008, this book “captures the experiences of women throughout world history in a comprehensive, 4-volume work. Although there has been extensive research on women in history by region, no text or reference work has comprehensively covered the role women have played throughout world history...”

Read more about this book on the OUP site at:
http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780195148909
NEW AWARDS
The Singh Twins have just won the Liverpool Art Prize, ‘People’s Award’.The Liverpool Art Prize, the North’s equivalent of the ‘Turner Prize’ was launched this year as part of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture celebrations.

On their recent visit to California,USA, to attend the Spinning Wheel Film Festival and the launch of the 2008 Sikhpoint Calendar (see below) The Singh Twins were honored with the Sikhpoint.com Artists of the Year Award which was presented by eminent Sikh Californian, Dr Amarjit Marwah, at the Sikh Heritage Evening Spinning Wheel Gala.

Above: The Singh Twins with Dr Amarjit Marwah.
MAJOR COMMISSIONS
In 2007 The Singh Twins were awarded two major public commissions by their home City of Liverpool:
1) ’Liverpool 800:The Changing Face of Liverpool’:
Celebrating the 800th anniversary of Liverpool in 2007, the first commission explores the traditional Liverpool City coat of arms as a visual statement of the city’s formal identity (founded in an industrial and merchant past) and reinterprets its symbolism and structure in the light of changing and current perceptions of Liverpool.
This painting has been installed permanently in the new ‘Heritage Centre’ in St Georges Hall, Liverpool and was ‘unveiled’ during the building’s official re-opening by HRH Prince Charles on St George’s Day, 23rd April 2007.

Above: A brush with Royalty! - The Singh Twins talking to HRH Prince Charles about their ‘Liverpool 800” painting.
[CLICK HERE TO READ ALL ABOUT ‘LIVERPOOL 800’ ]
2) ’Arts Matters:The Pool of Life’
This second commission celebrates Liverpool’s status as European Capital of Culture in 2008 and reflects the diverse cultural and artistic life of city of Liverpool as a centre of visual arts, dance, music, literature, theatre and film. The painting is on display at Liverpool’s Bluecoat Gallery throughout 2008.

Above:The Singh Twins working on ‘Arts Matters:The Pool of Life”
[CLICK HERE TO READ ALL ABOUT THE ‘ARTS MATTERS’: THE POOL OF LIFE’]
NEW MEDIA
Marking the start of their long standing ambition to extend the issues explored in their work through the more multi-dimensional medium of film the Singh Twins have produced their first short film titled ‘Nineteen Eighty Four and the via Dolorosa Project’.

The film explores the making and inspiration behind their celebrated painting, ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, (which depicts the storming of the Golden Temple at Amritsar by Indian Troops in 1984) to present a very personal perspective on what they regard as being one of the most tragic and misrepresented events in modern Sikh history.
The initial idea for the film began when the Twins were invited to take part in a National arts project established by Arts Beyond Belief in which artists from different faiths were invited to explore a Christian tradition of Christ’s suffering known as the Stations of the Cross and to create a short DVD which responded to it from their own perspective.
Narrated by the Singh Twins, the film reveals how what began in their Catholic Convent school days as a spontaneous response to the attack, became a powerful vehicle for highlighting the universality of political corruption and related issues of human rights abuses. The film reaches its climax with two poems, illustrated by details from the painting, which make parallels between Sikh and non Sikh sentiments surrounding 1984 and the contemplative, Catholic Christian tradition of the Via Dolorosa (Path of Pain) experienced by Jesus from the time of his being condemned to die to the time of his crucifixion. The film thus encourages greater empathy for the Sikhs by presenting their plight from the perspective of a faith much more widely understood within the global community, reinforces the idea that atrocities perpetrated through political ambition and corruption are part of the collective human experience - suggesting in effect that the Sikh story of 1984 is ultimately the story of all peoples, all places and all times.
The film was premiered at the Spinning Wheel Film Festival in Toronto in October 2005 (http://www.swfftoronto.com/previous-festivals/previous-festivals-2005.php ), and went on to screen at the same festival in New York, Orange, California and San Francisco throughout 2006 and 2007. Plans are to continue to submit the film to other mainstream festivals around the world.
COLUMNS
The artists are columnists for Sikhchic.com, the premier site on Sikhs and Sikhism, their Art & Culture, Poetry & Ideas, Personalities and Events, from across the Diaspora. To read their latest and previous autobiographcal and other columns click the link below:
http://www.sikhchic.com/columnist-list.php?col_id=5
2008 CALENDAR
The 2008 Sikhpoint Calendar, designed by The Singh Twins is available FREE and can be ordered through www.ethnicisland.com whilst stocks last.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Most recently, the Singh Twins work has been featured in the Oxford University Press publication title – ‘Portraiture’ by Shearer West and the National Portrait Gallery publication title ‘The Portrait Now’ – described as profiling ”90 of the best contemporary portraits from across the world.”

‘Portraiture’ - read more about this book on the Amazon site at:
http://www.amazon.com/Portraiture-Oxford-History-Shearer-West/dp/0192842587

‘The Portrait Now’ - read more about this book on the NPG website at:
www.npg.org.uk/live/pubportraitnow.asp
order through the NPG shop by clicking the link below:
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/shop/shoplisting.asp
The artists have also been profiled in Peter Bance’s new book, ‘The Sikhs In Britain(available at www.Amazon.co.uk ) and Khushwant Singh’s ‘Sikhs Unlimited’ (available at www.Amazon.com )
 
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS UPDATE
The Singh Twins’ major work ‘Mr Singh’s India’ - depicting their detailed vision of Scottish/Glaswegian / Sikh culture - is now permanently installed at the newly renovated and re-opened Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow.
Two of the Twins’ renowned paintings depicting Liverpool football and multicultural life have been purchased by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for the Government Art Collections. The two works, titled ‘Painting the Town Red’ and ‘Wedding Jange II’, can be viewed on the DCMS web site. www.gac.culture.gov.uk
EXHIBITION HIRE
The ‘Singh Twins Collection’ - which consists of some 70 of their works dating from 1987- present day - has been touring UK, Europe, US and India almost continuously since 1999.
If you are interested in hosting a show of this private collection - either in whole or part- please contact theartists@singhtwins.co.uk for details regarding availability and terms and conditions for loan.
EDUCATION
A module exploring two of the Singh Twins’ paintings is now included in the Artisancam education web site. To access this interactive module for young children please visit www.artisancam.org
As an extension of their ongoing commitment to bring their work to younger audiences the Singh Twins are exploring the possibility of creating educational CDs/DVDs of specific paintings (themed around issues dealing with art, culture and identity) and would like to hear from any individual/group or organisation who might be interested in developing and facilitating their ideas further. Please feel free to contact: theartists@singhtwins.co.uk](NOTICE_BOARD_files/shapeimage_1.png)
