British artist and scuba diver Laura Parker has won the Artwork Category in the ‘Voice of the Ocean‘ underwater photo, video and art competition at the 2025 Asia Dive Expo (ADEX), held this year in Singapore.
Parker, a self-taught artist based in Richmond, London, entered two paintings into the competition, both of which were finalists in the Artwork Category, with her title ‘Soft Magic Descending’ – an acrylic and pencil on cradled wood panel painting – winning the top prize.
Describing her art as an ‘exciting, scary, frustrating, addictive, rewarding, and an utterly indispensable part of my life,’ Parker said she was ‘thrilled’ upon hearing that her painting was crowned winner of the Artwork Category.
The presentation was made at ADEX on Sunday, 6 April, by an all-star panel of judges – which included David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes – who described the painting as ‘a truly stunning work’.
‘The natural world, particularly water, is a constant inspiration and stimulus to my work,’ wrote Parker in the competition finalist’s description of her painting. ‘”Soft Magic Descending” is an exploration of colours and patterns, chasing and interweaving as warm light darts over dark, watery depths.
‘I enjoy the infinite possibilities of changing shapes and forms created by these rippling movements, and respond intuitively by moving the paint with bold expressive gestures.
‘Blurring the lines between abstraction and the natural world, the painting captures a fleeting moment of reflection in the flowing course of a stream, suggesting a place that is anywhere and nowhere at once, where I try to reveal the smell, taste, feel, sound and sparkle of water so that the viewer responds to the artwork almost like uncovering a dream or a memory.’
To see more of Laura Parker’s art, visit www.lauraparkerart.com or find her on Instagram @lauraparker_uk or Facebook @laura.parker.artist
