Desee Art congratulates Nalini Malani on her win of the 2019 edition of Joan Miro Prize granted by Fundació Joan Miró and La Caixa.
The Joan Miro award is named after the Spanish painter and sculptor and is awarded to those who capture his spirit of exploration, creativity, and dedication. This award is one of the most acclaimed awards in the contemporary art world, and this $78K win makes her the first Indian to win this award. The jury stated that her art gave a voice to “the silenced and the dispossessed all over the world, most particularly women”.
Nalini was born in Karachi, merely a year before India’s Independence and partition. Her works are characterized by her lyrical and figurative style, offering her perspective of issues faced by people across India and Pakistan, especially women. Malani describes her art as a “condemnation of cynical nationalism that exploits the beliefs of the masses.”
Malani Nalini obtained a Diploma in Fine Arts from J J School of Arts in 1969. Throughout this period, she had a studio where a range of artists worked together. Here she gained exposure to many forms of art, especially theatre in which she specializes today. She went on to become the first Asian woman to ever receive the Arts and Culture Fukuoka award in 2013. Her work has been showcased in many prestigious museums around the world, including MoMA in NYC. Today, Nalini Malani is a world-renowned contemporary artist who specializes in video, installation and visual pieces.
Malani’s painting showed here, ‘Tales of Good and Evil’, was made in 2008. This painting depicts many scenes, blurring the lines between good and evil.
Please do congratulate Nalini Malani on her fantastic win in the comments below!
