Lubaina Himid is the recipient of the 2023 edition of the Maria Lassnig Prize. This is the fourth edition of the Maria Lassnig Prize and it is awarded by the Maria Lassnig Foundation to honour mid-career artists every two years.
Himid will receive €50,000 and a solo exhibition of her works will be staged at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, the collaboration institution for this year’s prize.
Image courtesy of the artist
“In just a few short years, the Maria Lassnig Prize has emerged as a prestigious award that honors artists in the midst of their careers, recognizing their exceptional talent and the need for greater recognition, according to the esteemed jury. The ongoing partnerships with internationally renowned institutions that usually help artists to get attention early on, contributes a lot to the award’s global impact. As a result, we are enormously proud to announce that this exceptional artist Lubaina Himid, with a diverse cultural background, will be undertaking a project at UCCA Beijing. It’s the first major presence for the artist in Asia. We eagerly anticipate the outcome of this award edition and extraordinary collaboration,”
– said Peter Pakesch, Chair of the Maria Lassnig Foundation.
Lubaina Himid CBE RA (b. in 1954, Zanzibar) is a renowned British artist, curator, and Emeritus Professor of contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire. With a career spanning since the 1980s, her work has delved into themes of colonialism, slavery, history, identity, and gender long before they became central to contemporary discourse. She is a Royal Academician and was honoured with a CBE for her contributions to the arts in 2018. In 2017, she became the first Black woman to win the Turner Prize.
Image courtesy of Lee Sharrock
Her work is held in various museum and public collections, including Tate, London; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Sharjah Art Foundation; Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne; Rennie Collection, Vancouver; British Council Collection; Arts Council Collection; UK Government Art Collection; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; National Museums Liverpool; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; and Rhode Island School of Design, Providence.
UCCA director Philip Tinari says,
“Lubaina Himid’s bold formal innovations and trenchant historical explorations have established her as one of the most important voices in global contemporary art. UCCA is honoured and thrilled to be able to present her work to audiences in China for the first time.”
