The Iraqi-born, Abu Dhabi-based artist Rand Abdul Jabbar was named the winner of the second Richard Mille Art Prize. She received the $60,000 prize in a lavish ceremony at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, where an exhibition of works by the 10 shortlisted artists also took place.
Abdul Jabbar was born in Baghdad and moved to Abu Dhabi when he was five years old. After studying architecture at Columbia University in New York, she returned to Abu Dhabi, where she continues to live and work.
His work exhibited as part of the prize, Earthly wonders, celestial beings, is a collection of dozens of handmade clay objects, whose shapes echo objects from ancient Mesopotamia. “Much of my work is concerned with historical narratives and memory,” she told the art journal at the opening of the exhibition, “the tangible vestiges of history and the more ephemeral vestiges”.
Abdul Jabbar says, “I am grateful to be recognized among a group of peers for whom I have deep respect and admiration. The Richard Mille Art Prize represents a significant investment in the growth and development of an artist’s practice, instilling both the ability and the will to move forward in one’s pursuit. I would like to thank the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Richard Mille for their generous support, and to thank the esteemed jury for their trust.
This is the second year of the award, which is organized by Louvre Abu Dhabi with watchmakers Richard Mille. Open to artists from the Gulf region, it aims to “support the exciting and richly nuanced local art scenes thriving in the Gulf and help share their creativity with the world,” said Peter Harrison, Managing Director of Richard Mille EMEA. . The first recipient of the award was Nasser Alzayani.
The open call for the next prize will begin on March 30 — the theme will be “transparency”.
