Lawrence Abu Hamdan shares Turner Prize with other nominees
For the first time in history, all four artists shortlisted for the 2019 Turner Prize — a contemporary British art award — have been named winners.
Among the winners is Beirutbased artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan, who was one of four nominees to write a joint letter to the jury asking that the prize be used as a statement of “commonality, multiplicity and solidarity” in a time of “political crisis.”
Abu Hamdan’s vast works are politically focused, incorporating sounds in an interplay of noise and silence in conflict.
Abu Hamdan was shortlisted for his solo exhibition “Earwitness Theatre” and for the video installation “Walled Unwalled.” His work investigates crimes that have been heard and not seen, exploring the processes of reconstruction, the complexity of memory and language as well as the urgency of human rights and advocacy. Alongside Abu Hamdan were the artists Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani.
“The politics we deal with differ greatly, and for us it would feel problematic if they were pitted against each other, with the implication that one was more important, significant or more worthy of attention than the others,” the artists wrote in a letter to the judges beforehand.
“At this time of political crisis in Britain and much of the world, when there is already so much that divides and isolates people and communities, we feel strongly motivated to use the occasion of the prize to make a collective statement in the name of commonality, multiplicity and solidarity — in art as in society,” they said.
The artists won around $52,000, of which each will get a quarter share.
Cammock’s work explores social histories through film, photography, print, text and performance. Her work, “The Long Note,” looks at the history and the role of women in the civil rights movement in Londonderry, Ireland.
Murillo incorporates a variety of techniques and media, including painting, drawing, performance, sculpture and sound, often using recycled materials and fragments from his studio, according to the Turner Prize website.