The V&A and Art Jameel have announced further exhibition details of the shortlisted projects for the 7th edition of the Jameel Prize.
The seventh edition of the Jameel Prize is devoted to moving image and digital media work, inspired by Islamic art, culture, history, society, and ideas. From over 300 submissions, seven finalists were selected by an international jury.
The shortlisted artists for Jameel Prize: Moving Images are Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, Jawa El Khash, Alia Farid, Zahra Malkani, Khandakar Ohida, Marrim Akashi Sani, and Rami Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian (as a collective). The winner of the Prize will be announced on 27th November 2024, after which an exhibition of the finalists’ work will be displayed at the V&A South Kensington opening on 30th November 2024 running until 16th March 2025.
The finalists’ diverse practices span film and photography, animation, installation, sound, sculpture, and virtual reality. In a series of intimate, immersive encounters, the exhibition reflects the ways artists use moving image and digital technologies to pose questions around identity, history, and community.
Sadik Kwaish Alfraji's practice draws upon personal and collective memory. His animations, including A Thread of Light Between My Mother's Fingers and Heaven (2023), and A Short Story in the Eyes of Hope (2023), poetically document the lives of his parents.
Jawa El Khash's virtual reality work The Upper Side of the Sky (2019) resurrects Syrian archaeology and ecology that has been endangered or destroyed during the ongoing civil war.
Alia Farid's works – including Chibayish (2022 and 2023) – examine tensions over resources created by colonial borders in the Arabian Gulf, focussing on the impact upon everyday people and cultures.
Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian's 'fluid painting', If I had two paths, I would choose a third (2020), explores the toppling of statues and acts of iconoclasm, particularly in Iran and Iraq.
Zahra Malkani's work A Ubiquitous Wetness (2023) explores how mystical and devotional practices in Pakistan intersect musical and oral traditions in the particular context of water.
Khandakar Ohida's film Dream Your Museum (2022) is a portrait of her uncle, Khandakar Selim, who has built an extraordinary collection of objects and memorabilia over the last 50 years in India.
Marrim Akashi Sani's Muharram (2023) photo series captures practices around the commemoration of Muharram, a sacred month in Islam, exploring the ways Muslim communities have retained and evolved their faith in the American Midwest.
The finalists were selected by an international jury from over 300 applicants, following an open call. The jury is comprised of artists Ajlan Gharem (winner of the sixth Jameel Prize), and Morehshin Allahyari, curator Sadia Shirazi, academic Laura U. Marks, and chaired by V&A Director Tristram Hunt. At the opening of the exhibition in November 2024, the jury will announce a single winner of the £25,000 prize. After its run at the V&A in London, the exhibition will go on tour.
Jameel Prize: Moving Images: 30 November 2024 - 16 March 2025
V&A Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
Further Information: Jameel Prize · V&A