Sandra Mujinga (born 1989 in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo), has been announced as the winner of the top art prize in Germany, Preis der Nationalgalerie 2021.
Sandra Mujinga (born 1989 in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo), has been announced as the winner of the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2021. With the award, the artist will receive a large solo exhibition in the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin next year with an accompanying publication.
Four other artists and collectives had been nominated at the beginning of the year, including music and installation artist Lamin Fofana, photography duo Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff, and conceptual artist Sung Tieu. Each of the shortlisted artists created a small solo exhibition of new and recent works at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin.
The jury which included Emre Baykal (Chief curator, Arter, Istanbul), Sven Beckstette (Curator, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin), Gabriele Knapstein (Director, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin), Emma Lavigne (President, Palais de Tokyo, Paris) and Yesomi Umolu (Director, Curatorial Affairs and Public Practice, Serpentine Galleries, London) selected Mujinga to be winner.
“The topics addressed by her works resonate greatly with the present moment, while also seeming to come from a future already passed,” said the jury in a joint statement. “These works remind us to be considerate of other living beings for the sake of our own survival, and that we can observe and learn from their various strategies of adapting to an ever-changing world.”
Born in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mujinga now lives between Berlin and Oslo. The artist, who is represented by Croy Nielsen in Vienna and The Approach in London, recently closed a solo exhibition at the Swiss Institute in New York. Her sculptures and installations oscillate between the figurative and abstract, and often occur as ghostlike figures made with carefully executed, otherworldly textiles. At the Hamburger Bahnhof, Mujinga presented faceless, towering figures in a green-washed space, as well as a large, ominous ship-like sculpture.
The award is handed out every two years to an artist under 40 who lives in Germany.
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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