The Fundació Joan Miró and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation awarded the Joan Miró Prize this year to Vietnamese American artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen. Born in Saigon, Nguyen, who lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, will receive €50,000 (about $54,000) and, in 2024, a solo exhibition at the Barcelona institution. The artist triumphed over a shortlist of Tala Madani, Frida Orupabo, Mika Rottenberg and Haegue Yang.
Nguyen’s family arrived in the United States in 1979 as refugees in 1979 when the artist was three years old. The experience informs her practice, which encompasses video, film and sculpture and addresses themes of collective memory, displacement and colonization. Among the topics he has investigated are the war in Vietnam, historical ties between Vietnam and Senegal, and attempts by the Aboriginal Ngurrara community to reclaim their land from the Australian government. In a statement, the prize jury praised Nguyen for “the social, political and environmental relevance of his work, which is always presented with a surprisingly unique artistic vision. His subtle touch allows him to approach some of the most difficult episodes in modern history with a playful and poetic clarity.
The Miró Prize, launched in 2007, is awarded every two years to contemporary artists whose work embodies the same spirit of exploration, innovation, commitment and freedom that has marked the life and work of the surrealist artist. To date, the honor goes to Olafur Eliasson (2007), Pipilotti Rist (2009), Mona Hatoum (2011), Roni Horn (2013), Ignasi Aballí (2015), Kader Attia (2017) and Nalini Malani (2019) . No prizes were awarded in 2021, as the art world struggled to emerge from the receding Covid-19 pandemic.
