We are happy to share that Saddam Jumaily’s Poisonous Meadow has received a special honour from the jury at the State of the ART(ist) festival! Jumaily was an AR-SHH-Resident in 2020 and took part in the Artists At Risk Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale earlier this year.
Jumaily’s powerful and thought-provoking series of paintings critique the destructive role of fundamentalist religion in Middle Eastern societies like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran. Jumaily addresses how religious authority, fuelled by violence and repression, distorts lives and curbs freedom.
In Poisonous Meadow, Jumaily uses irony to portray the deep moral decay at the heart of these extreme authorities. His paintings stand as a reflection on the repression and injustices he has witnessed firsthand, exposing the destructive impact of political religion.
- Read more about Poisonous Meadow: https://ars.electronica.art/stateoftheartist/en/poisonous-meadow/
We are also incredibly proud of AR-alumni Said Ahmed Mohamed Alhassan and Nina Bulgakova, Anastasiia Mostova and Kateryna Zhuravlova from Ethno Contemporary Ballet, who both won the main State of the ART(ist) prizes for their remarkable works. Alhassan’s project Haawriya and Ethno Contemporary Ballet’s Fertility performance are powerful examples of art that bravely confronts adversity and challenges the status quo.
We are beyond proud of our alumni’s achievements and the continued recognition of AR-alumni internationally!
The 2024 State of the ART(ist) Exhibition runs from 4 to 8 September 2024 in Linz, Austria.
- All winners in the virtual State of the ART(ist) Exhibition: https://www.spatial.io/s/State-of-the-ARTist-2024-649ff2152e4f7d91d9598424?share=172859706868939401
Pictures: Saddam Jumaily
