Art Jameel and the V&A have announced the shortlisted projects for the 7th edition of the Jameel Prize, the V&A’s international award for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition.

The triennial competition, founded in 2009 and worth £25,000 ($31,804), focuses this year on moving image and digital media, shortlisting seven finalists from over 300 applicants.

The ‘Jameel Prize: Moving Images’ shortlisted artists are:

• Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, Jawa El Khash
• Alia Farid, Zahra Malkani
• Khandakar Ohida
• Marrim Akashi Sani
• Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian (joint submission)

Together, the works celebrate Islamic heritage and its relevance to contemporary life, covering a wide range of thematics – from domesticity and spirituality to ecology and revolution.

Applicants were sought through an open call in 2023 looking for artists working with film, video and time-based media, alongside those engaging with established and emerging digital technologies.

The international jury for the 7th edition comprises of artists Morehshin Allahyari and Ajlan Gharem (winner of the previous Jameel Prize ‘Poetry to Politics’), curator Sadia Shirazi, and academic Laura U. Marks, and chaired by V&A Director Tristram Hunt.

The winner of the Prize will be announced on November 27, 2024, after which all the finalists’ works will be displayed at the V&A, opening November 30, 2024. After its run at the V&A, ‘Jameel Prize: Moving Images’ will go on tour in 2025 to national and international venues, including Hayy Jameel in Jeddah.

Spanning film, sculpture, installation, sound, performance and VR, the finalists’ works engage with issues relating to water, ecology, landscape and spirituality, looking at the ways in which extractive industries and political dynamics shape the environmental and social fabric of the Middle East and South Asia.

Others address the writing of history – examining the making of monuments and their deconstruction through acts of iconoclasm or forging alternative approaches to museums and collections. Many works offer personal testaments to community, resilience, and connection, with hand-drawn animation and photography used for powerful storytelling.

The chair of the Jameel Prize jury, V&A Director, Tristram Hunt, said: “I am delighted that we have selected such an impressive shortlist for the seventh Jameel Prize.

“Over the last 15 years the Prize has explored diverse responses to Islamic civilisation in many media. Over this time, too, the range of eligible work has expanded and diversified, allowing us to concentrate on digital media and the moving image for this edition. The V&A is delighted to continue its partnership with Art Jameel in creating a bold and intriguing exhibition.”

Director of Art Jameel, Antonia Carver, said: “Art Jameel began its partnership with the V&A in 2006, collaborating to transform the Islamic art galleries at the museum, before launching the Jameel Prize, to track and celebrate the enduring influence of Islamic design and traditions on the most compelling contemporary art of today.

“The Prize and its touring exhibitions are dynamic -- innovating and growing in breadth and focus each iteration. We congratulate the stellar cohort of artists in this seventh edition of the Prize and Rachel Dedman, Jameel Curator of the Contemporary Middle East at the V&A.”

Through the past six editions, the Jameel Prize has received applications from more than 1,700 artists from over 40 countries, exhibited the work of 56 artists and designers, and toured to 18 venues globally. – TradeArabia News Service