Rana Hamadeh wins Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2017

Today visual artist Rana Hamadeh (Beirut, Lebanon, 1983) received the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2017 from Minister for Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven. Rana Hamadeh studied with a Huygens grant at DAI Art Praxis (master) of ArtEZ, where she graduated cum laude in 2009. She is still involved with the DAI as a guest lecturer and member of the admission committee. Hamadeh has won the award for a new act of her opera project the Ten Murders of Josephine. The award comes with a cash prize of €40,000 and a period of work at the American Academy in Rome. The Prix de Rome is awarded to a talented young visual artist in the Netherlands once every two years.

The international jury unanimously chose Rana Hamadeh, an artist who creates her own idiom and who dissects, reorders and voices history. Her opera project has an urgent theme: the need for us to become aware of the missing voice in testimonies and of the manner in which eradicating voices influences our view of the past. In an overwhelming, cacophonous installation, she drags the audience into a compelling epic full of intense experiences. The jury bases its judgement on factors such as development and expressiveness of the work and how it compares at the international level.

Read more on the Prix de Rome site>>

The exhibition The Ten Murders or Josephine can still be seen until the end of December in Witte de With. More info.