The Florence Waters Travel Award has been established in memory of Florence Waters who died at the tragically young age of 33 in 2018. Florence studied for a BA in History of Art at the Courtauld from 2003-2006 and enjoyed three very happy and fulfilled years at the Institute. Her friends remember her as a vital presence, with an original perspective, who was excited by her studies and by contemporary art.

After graduating, she travelled in the Far East before moving to Berlin a surprise to family and friends alike, although Florence continually surprised by taking on unexpected challenges. She learned German and began working as a journalist for publishing giant Axel Springer, taking on a role as reporter on the virtual newspaper SL News, which was published inside the ground-breaking computer game Second Life. Friends recall her cycling everywhere, exploring the city, and taking them to see exhibitions, such as the drawings of war artist Kathe Kollwitz.

On her return to London in 2008, Florence was recruited by The Daily Telegraph, initially to use her digital experience to improve its online presence, before moving to the arts desk where she wrote on the UK and international arts scene. She revealed a distinctive voice, writing articles on subjects as diverse as the Queens Royal Collection to eccentric street photographer Vivian Maier.

Following a serious deterioration in her health, eventually diagnosed as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, she resigned in 2013 to better manage her health issues, and worked as a freelance arts writer. She continued to write for the Telegraph, where her qualities as an interviewer helped her break the story to the world of the history-changing discovery of Richard III beneath a car park in Leicester, but art remained her passion, and she wrote extensively for Wallpaper, Christies Online Magazine, and other publications. For Wallpaper, Florence travelled to Barcelona to interview the reclusive sculptor Xavier Corbero at his Catalan labyrinth, the home he had been building for half a century, and to St Bavo's Cathedral in Belgium to write about the restoration of Jan Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece. Despite her ill health, she continued to travel for stories and research, to Paris and Florence, Kiev and Lithuania, and to 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands to see the major 2016 exhibition of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch, which she described as "even more vivid and beautiful than I'd expected."

During this period, she also pursued her interest in creative writing, producing two unpublished novels, a childrens book in verse, and numerous poems. She developed a strong interest in health therapies including Tai Chi, Qigong, nutrition, human biology and meditation, at one time spending three months on a meditation retreat in France.

She had always been a talented painter and from 2017 until her death she focused on her art, producing hundreds of beautiful works, a selection of which were exhibited in a London gallery in 2019. She was inspired by Georgia OKeefe, whose work she considered "pure and bold, intuitive and unselfconscious."

Florence had a strong conscience and devoted much of her later life to helping others, working for a number of Oxford-based charities including Keen and Restore where her gentle nature and innate empathy allowed her to relate easily to children and adults with learning difficulties.

She loved to travel, and this award is intended for Courtauld students whose studies would benefit from overseas travel, but who do not have the funds to do so.

If you have any questions about the Florence Waters Travel Award, please contact Sarah Fallon, Development Manager at sarah.fallon@courtauld.ac.uk

Thank you for your support.

Offline donations: Mr Christopher Melluish