KYIV.- The PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, Ukraine) announces Ashfika Rahman (35, Bangladesh) as the winner of the Future Generation Art Prize 2024. Marking the prize’s 15th anniversary and 7th edition, the global art prize for artists under 35 offers a remarkable view on the artistic vision from the next generation of artists; discovering, recognizing and giving long-term support to a future generation of artists all over the world.

The winner was announced by the international jury in Kyiv on October 29. Ashfika Rahman received a total of 100,000 USD: 60,000 USD as a cash prize, and 40,000 USD to fund their artistic practice. An additional 20,000 USD was awarded to Special Prize winners Tara Abdullah Mohammed Sharif (27, Iraq), Bekhbaatar Enkhtur (29, Mongolia), Dina Mimi (29, Palestine), Hira Nabi (36, Pakistan), Ipeh Nur (30, Indonesia), Zhang Xu Zhan (35, Taiwan).

Ashfika Rahman’s winning work for the PinchukArtCentre employs photography, prints, text and sculpture to examine the role of women in society. Often working with communities, Rahman articulates stories that have been historically silenced, not only in Bangladesh, where Rahman is based, but also globally. Drawing inspiration from territories that have been divided and renegotiated by geopolitical powers, Rahman’s work demonstrates a commitment and focus on the ideals of community building and repair in the face of collective trauma.

The winners were chosen by the prize’s distinguished international jury, consisting of: Cecilia Alemani, Curator of The Milk of Dreams, 59th International Art Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia (2022); Björn Geldhof, Artistic Director at the PinchukArtCentre; Diane Lima, Independent curator, writer, and a key Black feminist voice in Brazilian contemporary art; Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Director and chief curator of Haus der Kulturen der Welt; Alicia Knock, Curator, Head of the Contemporary Creation and Prospective Department at the Centre Pompidou; Simon Njami, Independent curator, lecturer, art critic, and novelist and Hou Hanru, Art critic and curator, former Artistic Director of MAXXI, National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome.

The exhibition of the 21 shortlisted artists for the 7th edition of the Future Generation Art Prize is on show at the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv until 19 January 2025. Featuring new works and recent projects by shortlisted artists, selected from over 12,000 entries across almost 200 countries, the artists bring unique cultural perspectives and a diversity of artistic approaches to Kyiv to engage with today’s most pressing issues.

Established by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in 2009, the Future Generation Art Prize is a biannual global contemporary art prize open to all artists aged 35 or younger. Championing creativity, the prize continues Ukraine’s important connection with the global arts community.

Ashfika Rahman addressed the audience: “This award feels particularly meaningful, especially given the global political climate we're going through. Future Generation Art Prize offers a unique platform where voices can be heard openly, allowing us to be both expressive and politically engaged. This is a space where people from all over the world can speak freely.

I’m very grateful for the opportunity, and I want to thank everyone who has stood by me throughout my artistic journey. This award isn't just a recognition of today—it holds lasting significance. I commend the courage of the organizers, who, despite numerous challenges, successfully created an open platform for expression. This edition of the award will serve as a remarkable example for the future of contemporary art. I would also like to emphasize that my exhibition is a collective effort, made possible by the community I work with, the curators and the entire team.”

Commenting on Ashfika Rahman as the winner of the Future Generation Art Prize 2024, the Jury said: “The jury celebrates Rahman’s brave work that articulates stories that have been historically silenced, not only in Bangladesh and India where Rahman draws her inspiration from, but also globally.

Echoing the history of the partitioning of the Indian subcontinent, and the resulting sociopolitical, religious, gender implications in the contemporary, her work is testament to a collective trauma, that is shared with the viewer but also transcended through the sublime yet humble and fragile aesthetics of the work. Taken from territories incessantly divided and renegotiated by various geopolitical powers, Rahman weaves a collective entity unfolding along a river that connects fragmented lands and bodies. A floating embroidery between land and sky links the human condition and aspiration for gender justice with mythology and spirituality. Rahman represents a future generation of artists that are committed to the ideals of community building and repair.”

Commenting on Tara Abdullah Mohammed Sharif as the winner of the special prize, the Jury said: “With a bold, fearless focus on the public space, Tara Abdullah Mohammed Sharif engages directly with the war in Ukraine, bridging it to her own experience as a Kurdish woman in Iraq. By creating a participatory installation where women affected by war are encouraged to come together and leave their mark, her work reflects the friction between violence and healing; speaking more broadly to women’s role in resistance across different geographies and times.”

Commenting on Hira Nabi as the winner of the special prize, the Jury said: “Hira Nabi’s installation that uses floating textiles, video projections and a sonic scape is an important contribution to artistic practices that address decolonial ecology. The installation employs fragmentation as methodology — both visually and sonically — inviting us to reflect on the multiple cracks and rubble that emerges from our continuous destruction of the environment. This work poetically reminds us that many of the conflicts we experience today are related to the extractivist practices towards our environment.”

Commenting on Ipeh Nur as the winner of the special prize, the Jury said: “Using metaphor, Ipeh reconstructs the inner space that we carry within us; made of memories, myths, experiences and reflections about what surrounds us. Her immersive installation provides a safe space for a personal geneaology of stories and myths embedded in her local environment. Drawing the visitor into a dreamlike environment, Ipeh invites us into a whole world within her work.”

The shortlist of the Future Generation Art Prize 2024 includes Sinzo Aanza (33, Congo), Tara Abdullah Mohammed Sharif (27, Iraq), Julian Abraham ‘Togar’ (36, Indonesia), Andrius Arutiunian (32, Lithuania), Salim Bayri (31, Morocco), Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro (27, Brazil), Giulia Cenci (35, Italy), Nolan Oswald Dennis (35, South Africa), Yasmine El Meleegy (32, Egypt), Bekhbaatar Enkhtur (29, Mongolia), Veronika Hapchenko (28, Ukraine), Dana Kavelina (28, Ukraine), Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien (33, France), Dina Mimi (29, Palestine), Sandra Mujinga (34, Norway), Hira Nabi (36, Pakistan), Ipeh Nur (30, Indonesia), Ashfika Rahman (35, Bangladesh), Buhlebezwe Siwani (36, South Africa), Zhang Xu Zhan (35, Taiwan) and Ziyang Wu (33, China).

A major contribution to the open participation of younger artists in the dynamic cultural development of societies in global transition, the Prize has supported the artistic development and production of new works of over 140 artists in exhibitions at the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv and the Venice Biennale.