Today on the blog I don’t think I can say it better than in the words of my press team and the Sovereign Art Foundation’s press team, so it’s over to them with an update about my artwork on very topical subject, containing heartbreaking stories, but also an incredibly positive step forward…
IN THE WAKE OF MONDAY'S commitment of the Irish government to ending the controversial ‘direct provision’ system which all asylum seekers are confined to in Ireland, artist Nicola Anthony's work has been recognised internationally. As a sculptor based between Dublin and Singapore who has made art for historical projects and figures (including Steven Spielberg, Galway 2020, and The French Ambassador), she makes artwork which tells the stories of foreign workers, migrant communities and Direct Provision centres.
She has been recognised and shortlisted for the prestigious Sovereign Art Prize. Her work with these migrant communities led to a documentation of their stories in a recent body of artwork, which will be exhibited in Hong Kong for the next 6 weeks and subsequently auctioned by Christies with proceeds going to charity. The prize is judged by Jan Dalley the Arts Editor of the Financial Times and David Elliott art historian, writer, curator and museum director, alongside a judging panel of world-class art experts.
Poetry Net (i), Nicola Anthony, 2020
The 2020 Sovereign Asian Art Prize: Finalists Exhibition
Hong Kong – The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) has announced the full schedule of events to take place in Hong Kong this summer for The 2020 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, including a six-week long finalists exhibition in Hong Kong (available virtually here) and online auction, through which all artworks will be sold for charity by Christie’s Hong Kong. 31 mid-career and museum level artists have been shortlisted as finalists in this 16th edition of Asia’s most prestigious prize for contemporary artists.
Nicola Anthony has been shortlisted for her artwork Poetry Net (I), pictured above, which tells the stories of over 100 migrants and asylum seekers she has interviewed, and represents the experiences of tens of thousands. Nicola works with many migrant communities internationally, including groups in Ireland who are campaigning against Direct Provision, and foreign workers in Singapore who have recently been badly hit by covid-19. She volunteers her time to run art workshops for the children and adults who are detained in the DP system which has been deemed 'inhumane' by the UNHCR, and she has been shortlisted for two previous awards about migrant workers in Singapore and Hong Kong. Through that work she has met people born in direct provision and adults who have even been detained for over 9 years, she has heard many stories of racism inside the centres as well as the more general stories of 'otherness' which migrants experience. It is all these stories that became part of the artwork.
She has art studios in Dublin and Singapore, enabling her to create this cross-cultural work and be nominated for this prestigious Asia-based award. Poetry Net (I) has evolved from the series commissioned by Singapore Art Museum in 2017, a permanent sculpture commissioned by Steven Spielberg's Foundation in 2018, and a sculpture about crossing Irish borders for which she was accorded CFCP’s ‘New Voices of Ireland’ title in 2019. Poetry Net (I) is a poem cut out from recycled translucent plastic film, letter by letter, turning it into lace-like structures of text reminiscent of nylon fishing nets.
For more information on this artwork click here.
To read a Q&A with the artist click here.
The Sovereign Art Prize Finalists Exhibition – is now live in a physical and virtual space (here). This diverse presentation of works by 31 shortlisted artists from 18 countries and territories is presented at K11 HACC, a new multipurpose art space in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong from 6 June – 19 July 2020. Visitors will be invited to cast a vote for their favourite artist to win a Public Vote Prize of US$1,000 (votes will also be accepted via web gallery and Facebook page, voting closes 12 July). A virtual tour of the exhibition will be available online.
The artworks will be available for bidding via online auction commencing 3 June at www.saapauction.com, with proceeds to be split evenly between the artists and charitable programmes for disadvantaged children in Asia.
On 20 June, a one-day symposium titled ‘Art in Hong Kong: People, Place and Practice’ will be co-presented by SAF and CoBo Social at the Finalists Exhibition and live-streamed. This curated programme of talks will feature perspectives from a diverse roster of notable art professionals. (Including Angela Mackay of Financial Times, Pascal de Sarthe of de Sarthe Gallery, Katie de Tilly of 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Charles Fong of Rossi & Rossi). Highlights include a panel discussion on art criticism and curatorial practice, and a conversation with four shortlisted artists. Full programme, speakers, registration details and live-streaming information will be published at both hosts’ websites. ( For full programme, speakers, and free registration details please visit click here.)
During the exhibition, the judging panel will select one artist to be awarded a Grand Prize of US$30,000, and another to receive the Vogue Hong Kong Women’s Art Prize of US$5,000. Names of all prize-winning artists will be announced on 17 July.
Existing press on this subject:
Artwork of migrant stories shortlisted for top art prize, RTE News, 18 Jun 2020
