Winners of the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2022

The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) has announced Iranian artist Azin Zolfaghari as the Grand Prize winner of The 2022 Sovereign Asian Art Prize with a cash prize of US$30,000 for her work, "Density"  (2021), a mixed media work of a desolate building façade.

Zolfaghari’s practice is characterised by unusual cityscapes depicting muted slabs of bleak façades with minimal signs of life. Her ambiguous works leave audiences wondering what the inside of the structure may hold. Density is an embodiment of the complicated definition of “home” which according to the artist, despite its objective clarity, is a fluid concept that does not fit neatly into any physical form.

"I am very excited to receive this award. It is an important and noteworthy moment for me as I have not exhibited outside of Iran before. I am thrilled that the message of my work has resonated with the judging panel. This award has also prepared me for challenges ahead – it’s a good stimulus foqr me to trust and persevere in my practice.

My work can be briefly summarised in two themes: insecurity and passivity. The country that I live in does not allow me to have complete security. Social, political and economic security is something that, in its absence or in the possibility of it not being actualized, leads me to paint a city empty of human beings – a city in which human beings have been forced to choose isolation, suffocation and repression.

I would like to thank the dear judges who considered my work worthy of receiving the award. Finally, thank you to my kind nominator, Maryam Kouhestani, for introducing me to this great initiative!" - Azin Zolfaghari

Faezeh Baharloo, also Irananian, was awarded the Vogue Hong Kong Women's Art Prize of US$5,000 for her work, "Untitled 1" (2021), an acrylic painting exploring mankind's relationship with the natural world. The awards were announced live at Art Central by Tiffany Pinkstone, Director of SAF; Desiree Au, Publisher of Vogue Hong Kong; and Ying Kwok, a member of the Prize judging panel. The Prize is the 18th edition of Asia's longest established and most prestigious award for contemporary art.

The Finalists Exhibition is currently being presented at Art Central in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, through 29 May 2022. The finalists from 16 countries and territories were shortlisted by a judging panel including writer, curator, and museum director, David Elliott; artist, curator, and actress, Karena Lam; artist and winner of The 2021 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Li Binyuan; and Senior Curator, Digital and Heritage at Tai Kwun, Ying Kwok. The panel was joined by Maria Mok, Museum Director of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, for the second round of judging as a Hong Kong-based representative.

The Sovereign Art Foundation

The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) is a charitable organisation that was founded in 2003 with a well-defined twin focus: to recognise the growing wealth of contemporary art talent in Asia and bring the proven benefits of expressive arts to disadvantaged children.

In the same year, SAF launched The Sovereign Asian Art Prize, now recognised as the most established and prestigious annual art award in Asia-Pacific. The Prize increases the international exposure of artists in the region, whilst raising funds by auctioning shortlisted artworks and sharing proceeds equally between the participating artists and SAF. SAF uses these proceeds to fund programmes that support disadvantaged children using expressive arts. This model has so far raised US$10 million for artists and charities worldwide.

In 2013, SAF launched Make It Better (MIB), an initiative that supports children from low-income backgrounds and with special educational needs in Hong Kong. MIB works in local schools and community centres to offer children a programme of expressive arts workshops designed to build self-esteem, confidence, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills. SAF also supports teachers, social workers and caregivers of these children by introducing them to the therapeutic benefits of art.

All images courtesy of the artists and The Sovereign Art Foundation.