The winners of the Aesthetica Art Prize 2024 are Maryam Tafakory and Gala Hernández López, selected by jurors from IKON, Serpentine Gallery, Turner Contemporary, V&A and more.
The 2024 Main Prize-winner is Maryam Tafakory for the artist film Nazarbazi [the play of glances], which explores love and desire in Iranian cinema, where depictions of intimacy between women and men are prohibited. The 2024 Emerging Prize-winner is Gala Hernández López, whose film The Mechanics of Fluids explores isolation and solitude in process of searching for the digital traces left by an incel.
The winners, who receive £10,000 prize money, exhibition, publication and further development opportunities, were chosen from a shortlist of 21 contemporary artists whose works are now on view at York Art Gallery. This year’s luminaries include the Sony World Photographer of the Year, Edgar Martins; Heather Agyepong, Foam Talent and Jerwood winner and Yevhen Samuchenko, recommended by CNN. The presentation directly confronts life in the 21st century, from beautiful universal human moments to a lack of regulation of internet culture and the destruction of our planet’s oceans. Elsewhere, audiences can discover a breadth of trailblazing work across painting, collage, photography and more.
Cherie Federico, the Director of the Aesthetica Art Prize, comments: “Contemporary art can change the world and here in York, which is one of only 22 global UNESCO City of Media Arts, we are doing just that. It’s unexpected for York to be the destination for global conversations around contemporary artistic practice, but we are pushing the envelope with powerful works and bold programming that looks at every facet of life in the 21st century. The pieces on display are timely, immediate and necessary.”
The Aesthetica Art Prize is one of the UK’s most prestigious awards for new talent. The annual competition predicts the future of the sector by shining a light on artists who are redefining the parameters of contemporary art. The Aesthetica Art Prize gives you a first-look at practitioners who will start to appear in major collections and exhibitions worldwide. To discover all 280 artists longlisted for this year’s award, audiences can visit the all-new online gallery at artprize.aestheticamagazine.com.
Maryam Tafakory and Gala Hernández López join Aesthetica’s talented art prize alumni, who continue to demonstrate excellence across the globe. Their work has been shown at major international institutions, including Centre Pompidou, Foam Amsterdam, MOMA PS1, Tate Modern and V&A. These trailblazing artists have won, or been nominated for, a range of prestigious awards, such as the Jarman Award, John Moore’s Painting Prize, Sony World Photography Awards and Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize. They have also achieved publication in Frieze, Art Review, The Guardian, The New York Times and Vice.
The Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition runs 16 February – 21 April 2024 and is a testament to shared creativity in a time of immense change. Tickets can be booked in advance on the York Art Gallery website.
To learn more about the 2024 Aesthetica Art Prize Shortlist and Longlist, click here.
The Aesthetica Art Prize is open for entries until 31 August. To find out more, click here.
Image Credits:
- Maryam Tafakory. Still from Nazarbazi (2022). Single channel digital video, 19 min 13 sec.
- Gala Hernández López. Still from The Mechanics of Fluids (2022). Single channel digital video, 38 min 45 sec.
