International line-up for arts prize
SIX artists have been shortlisted for a prestigious contemporary art prize.
Firelei Baez (Dominican Republic), Dineo Seshee Bopape (South Africa), Meiro Koizumi (Japan), Beatriz Santiago Munoz (Puerto Rico), Prabhakar Pachpute (India) and Carrie Mae Weems (USA) are all in with a chance to win the Artes Mundi prize.
The ninth edition of the biennial award, held at the National Museum, Cardiff, is the UK’s largest contemporary art prize with £40,000 prize money.
A winner will be announced in January following a four-month exhibition of the nominees’ work.
Baez’s work explores issues including migration and women’s identity while Bopape’s tackles subjects of gender, politics, race, psychology and sexuality.
Koizumi’s videos and performances have garnered global attention for their investigation into boundaries between the private and the public.
Munoz is best known for films exploring the social and political conditions of her native Puerto Rico and the Caribbean while Pachpute’s work looks at the development of his home state of Chandrapur in India.
And Weems is widely considered one of the most influential American artists of the 21st century, investigating the black experience in her native country.
Nigel Prince, Artes Mundi’s director, said each nominee had produced “compelling and distinctive” bodies of work.
“In prompting us to critically reflect on what it means to exist in this world in all its complexity, their practices speak to and engage with some of the most urgent issues of our time,” he added.