Artists William Kentridge and Mona Hotoum won the Praemium Imperiale awards, one of the most prestigious art awards.
In the 2019 edition of Praemium Imperiale awards, William Kentridge won in the Painting category, while Mona Hotoum won in the Sculpting category. The award is given in 5 categories; apart from painting and sculpting, there is acting, music and architecture. Each recipient was given a reward of 15 million yen, which is equivalent to $138,555. In the art world, the Praemium Imperiale awards are one of the biggest and most esteemed awards.
William Kentridge won the award after his long career as an artist – his works included drawings, cartoons, animations and stage props. Most of his work was targeted towards his native country of South Africa, its racial discrimination and current politics. Some of his works found a permanent home in Zeitz Museum and Norval Foundation. His other works have been exhibited across the world, in prestigious galleries like the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and Castello di Rivoli in Italy.
Mona Hatoum is currently exhibiting her series “Remains To Be Seen” in White Cube Gallery, London. This is her first exhibition in 3 years, after the previous exhibition at Tate Modern. Hatoum was born in Lebanon to a Palestinian family and has seen a lot of displacement and conflict in her early childhood. Through her works, which is defined as a ‘complex system of grids’, Hatoum tries to symbolize that conflict that still continues in the world. Hatoum has seen recognition before too, like when she was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995. Her works have been exhibited in places like Leipzig and the Menil Collection in Houston. However, the Praemium Imperiale would be the biggest feather in her cap.
The other recipients of this year’s awards were Tod Williams and Billie Tsien (Architecture), Anne-Sophie Mutter (Musician) and Bando Tamasaburo (Acting).
