Jameel Prize: Poetry to Politics

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum for this triennial award for contemporary art inspired by the Islamic tradition.

I have been to previous shows for this prize and they always throw up new ideas. This time the show included the work of eight artists and designers.

The winner, Ajlan Gharem, had a mosque made to chicken wire, the material used for border fences and refugee detention centres. so that the interior was visible. There was a section of it in the show and a video of it in use in a desert. The idea was to demystify Islamic prayer for non-Muslims.

Fashion designer, Kollol Datta, draws on the traditional clothing from around the world to make connections between communities and looks at how dress has been used to control women. Also on the theme of clothing, Bushra Waqas Khan, makes miniature dresses, like the one shown here, made of affidavit paper used for official document which often carry national motifs. The nod to Victorian fashion hints at colonialism.

My favourite was Sofia Karmin’s activism work. She invites people involved in protests to design samosa packages from scrap paper including court papers which are then shown on mass. There were impressive photographs of the protects and a selection of the packages.

Closed 28 November 2021

Review

Evening Standard


 

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