This is the 5th edition of the Jameel Prize, which is awarded annually to a shortlist of artists who use ‘contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition.’ The 2018 exhibition is back at the V and A Museum in London after the last event took place at Pera Museum in Istanbul (2016). The exhibition is prominent (to the left of the main entrance after you walk in) and is usually teeming with people. Being a historical Museum filled with the wonders of the world from everyday objects to intricate costumes and ornate works of art the viewer may be accustomed to soaking in innumerable works in finite rooms. However, the cramped location of the Jameel Prize would be better served by a larger and better installed space that would allow the viewer to ‘breathe’ and meditate on this art in a more contemporary context (something which felt more successful at the last edition at Pera- which is also a historical, albeit smaller, Museum). As one enters the exhibition a massive video monitor seduces many of the visitors (with benches nearby) and gives a 20-minute overview of each of the shortlisted artists which is both informative and well-produced but which tends to overshadow the actual work in both its prominence of place and scale.

And the winner is…

The world is (and has been for a long time) about lists of the best and winners and losers – sports culture is the perfect example of how the drama can be sustained, written about and marketed on a near continuous basis. Art on the other hand should be about an experience of contemplation, adventure, discomfort or even shock (or all of the mentioned and more) and the relevance of a ‘winner’ has to be questioned since there can be several works that are strong without having to choose a clear winner and loser. It should also be noted that as time passes, few people remember the winners at awards ceremonies but rather the great films, books and art that have been created over the last century. Mehdi Moutashar and Marina Tabassum were declared co-winners by the jury for this years’ prize.

Moutashar (b. 1943, Iraq – lives and works in Arles, France) is a veteran artist who in some ways feels like a ‘safe’ choice. Many modern artists (masters such as Klee, Matisse and Mondrian) were influenced by Islamic Geometric patterns and Moutahar’s work is reminiscent of early Malevich or the 1960s hard-edged, minimalist abstract painters such as Rothko or Elizabeth Murray with some added sculptural elements. In the biographical film he discusses the orientalist discourse he encountered when a student in 1960s Baghdad. However true this may be (and it certainly still happens) it feels very distant and out of step with the discussions going on today.

Tabassum (b. 1969 Bangladesh – lives and works in Dhaka, Bangladesh) is an architect and heads her own architecture firm that is interested in ‘climate, materials, site, culture and local history.’ Her use of light and materials brings to mind the legacy of Louis Khan’s work in Bangladesh (and a number of architects who have been influenced by his aesthetic). The Bait ur Rouf Mosque (2012) she designed places airflow (and the need for a building that breathes the humidity of Dhaka) alongside the creation of a minimalist sacred space of beauty. The curious observations are why is an architect’s building included in an Art competition; not because the two don’t overlap and mix but more because it is a completed building (that is six years old) and is represented by a scale model and photograph. An installation would make more sense since the viewer cannot experience, interact or appreciate a building or Tabassum’s interesting solutions to light, airflow and sacred space in this exhibition.

Emerging women artists?

Some of the artists included have work which lack some of the sophistication and conceptually rigorous strands of the cutting-edge in contemporary Islamic Art. Instead their inclusion feels forced as part of a curatorial ‘balance’ of gender/youth.

Hayv Kahraman (b. 1981, Iraq- lives and works in Los Angeles, U.S.) uses poetry to express a feminist discourse in her biographical video about her practise. The paintings use an interesting formal approach with a series of physical collages using wooden panels – the trouble is the repeated rendering of miniature-inspired self-portrait styled women feels underdeveloped both technically and conceptually. A disconnect between the poetry of identity, the use of a miniature aesthetic and the physicality of the display exists.

Hala Kaiksow (b. 1990- lives and works in Manama, Bahrain) has created a garment that appropriates Berber women with a contemporary fashion slant. She works with ‘traditional’ weavers and discusses process and the craft-based details extensively. The garments look similar to much of the fashion world over the past decade or more (many works like this could be seen in the early 2000’s in the NIFT fashion colleges of India). The work lacks a contemporary conceptual drive and tries to make up for it with a lazy ‘post-feminist’ slant that doesn’t seem convincing.

Wardha Shabbir (b. 1987, Pakistan- lives and works in Lahore, Pakistan) is another artist from the National College of Arts in Lahore. As stated in the biographical video many successful and cutting edge artists have emerged from this institution over the last few decades and several representative examples have featured in the Jameel Prize over the years (including last years’ winner Ghulam Mohammad). Shabbir invokes a minimalist aesthetic while borrowing from traditional miniature painting technique and is interested in light and temperature (and the scorching heat); the problem is Shabbir’s work feels underdeveloped in comparison to other NCA alumni and her discussion of future projects and where the work may go (installation?) prove more compelling than what the viewer is actually left with.

Conceptualizing tradition

The strongest works in the exhibition are those that rigorously explore Islamic artistic traditions while bringing something new in terms of material and concept.

The Naqsh Collective consists of Nermeen Abudail (b. 1980, Jordan) and Nisreen Abudail (b. 1976, Jordan). Nermeen has a background in graphic design and Nisreen is an architect and the work they have collaborated on takes the delicacy of embroidery and places a textured sculptural durability within a large scale. The artists let the materials speak while also respecting and researching the tradition.

Kamrooz Aram (b. 1978, Iran – lives and works in New York City, U.S.) displays fragments that have an architectural quality to them. The juxtaposition of historical pieces with modernist, geometrical canvases and sculptural stands lets the viewer re-interpret how one should approach ‘Islamic Art’ in a Museum context. His approach is to ‘look at objects as contemporary objects’ and these ideas are at the core of the entire Modernist view and interpretation of Islamic Art and are a welcome perspective from a visual artist.

Younes Rahmoun (b. 1975, Morocco – lives and works in Tetouan, Morocco) presents a compelling work titled Tâqiya-Nôr (Hat-light) from 2016. The illumination creates a sublime feeling and effortlessly mixes new technology with the Sufi object (the head-gear) while touching on Islamic numerology (the prime number) and the ubiquity of repetition in Islamic Art and Architecture. He remarks in the biographical video ‘…7 and 3- I love these numbers…’ and he also draws from a large, generalized aesthetic and simultaneously creates something that comes specifically from his hometown of Tetouan (he reflects that ‘the medina is my house’). These admirable qualities become transcendental with the inclusion of light and a contemporary use of space and media make it the best example in Jameel Prize 5 of the possibilities for Contemporary Islamic Art.

In the current exhibition the catalogue includes several essays which carefully tread (and even obsess over) the very definition of the prize. The ongoing emphasis on the inclusion of non-Muslim artists, work that is created or inspired by the Islamic world but is not in any way religious and the ‘democratic’ process of nomination of an artist by a third party (the current show has 11 shortlisted artists from over 280 entries from artists who were ‘nominated’ by select curators) all seems slightly desperate and over-academic. I agree wholeheartedly that the definition is necessarily broad but surely by the 4th edition of this it is time to move on from the endless discussions and analysis of the use of the term(s) Islamic Art and Contemporary Islamic Art and simply present the exhibition as is- knowing that any participating artists are self-declaring their work in this context.

The absence of color as a tool of expression and theme is glaring owing to the fact that Classical Islamic Art of most periods and mediums makes use of color to express subject matter. In the framework of an international prize there is also a clear absence of many dynamic and original artists working today (especially from the aforementioned countries Iran and Pakistan) who should be represented; on the other hand the inclusion of the Turkish artist Canan seems like a politicized decision since her work lacks any training or refinement of the Miniature genre yet proclaims to use that in presenting hurried, sloppy and expressionless paintings of the Gezi park protests of 2013. This curatorial ‘balancing’ of genres, politics and geographical regions works against the show.

There is however a sense of some developing maturity for the Jameel Prize exhibitions and the physical installation at the Pera Museum is strong. Line, Form, Space, Light and Time are significant areas of exploration in Islamic Art and below are some of the notable and more successful works.

Line

Pakistani artist Ghulam Mohammad (who won the prize this year) crafts meticulous collage works by cutting micro-sized Urdu text from old books and creating a visually poetic whirlpool of re-purposed non-narration. He is a graduate of the famous department of Miniature Painting at National College of the Arts in Lahore and the similarity to the Mughal genre shows when the words flow freely off the page and border. Both endless and finite, animated and dense- some of the works such as Gunjaan also play with open vacuums of space.

British artist David Chalmers Alesworth spent over 20 years in Pakistan and his work is interesting for its thematic use of carpets and gardens. The conceptual thrust behind his work on show here is the back and forth influences in carpets and gardens first from the Islamic world to Europe and then the other way around in the 19th century. Hyde Park Kashan 1862 takes an early 20th century carpet from Kashan, Iran and sews a transparent-like outline of Hyde Park (London) from an 1862 map. The scale, visual composition and juxtaposing use of actual carpets gives meaning to these works.

Form

Iranian artist Sahand Hesamiyan creates architectural sculptures out of cardboard and metal. The accessible scale allows the viewer to be drawn into the delicate and pleasing patterns and shadows. The use of materials is also a departure from the source of inspiration- classical ‘rasmibandi’ style vaulting in Persian architecture- with glistening steel and crisp cardboard inducing alterations in our visual perception. The title Khalvat is a poetic reference to mystic solitude and is borne out by this beautiful material struggle in the sculptures.

Pakistani-British artist Rasheed Araeen is a veteran who works in painting, sculpture and photography and is known by many for founding the influential journal Third Text. His geometric minimalist abstract sculpture has been a force in the UK for decades; the recent work in this show Spring Come, Happiness Come makes use of more pop-associated color such as pink and purple while alluding to his ongoing theme of the influence of Islamic geometry on Western Modernist Art.  Hung like a painting, it is a sculptural work where texture and shadow form a minimalist mosaic.

Space

New York based Iranian artist Shahpour Pouyan uses ceramic techniques to create a series of hat-sized domes based on great architectural ones in both Europe and the Muslim world (see the main article picture at the top). This simple juxtaposition of metaphorical hat/cap/armour with famous domes which ‘express the power of their builders’ creates a tone of both contemplative serenity and increasing uneasiness in the series The Unthinkable Thought. The domes are separated from their ‘bodies’ and are given a new context together on a reduced scale with no apparent utilitarian function (in contrast to the historical ‘object’ in Classical Islamic Art).

Light

Brazilian artist Lucia Koch emphasizes the importance of Islamic artistic influence on Portugal and by extension Brazil. This is a welcome socio-political topic of study (Spain, Sicily and other parts of Latin America could also be included) and the fact that her work has a celebratory element to it makes it stronger. What better way to show the influence than to re-create patterned designs from windows (traditionally used to deflect light and heat) but instead as an interactive installation using contemporary steel and colored acrylic. These screens can be pulled back and forth by the viewer to create innumerable light configurations.

Time

Turkish conceptual artist Cendet Erek uses sound and a minimalist approach to space to express historical events. Ruler Day Night ‘shows the passing of day and night, marked out by the times of the Muslim prayers’ and is noteworthy for its unorthodox and clinical use of a wooden ruler and sound to emphasize time. Ruler 100 Years notes the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the secular Republic of Turkey and the monumental changes from Islamic to Gregorian calendar (1926) and from Arabic to Latin script (1928) in an understated audio-visual work consisting of another ominous wooden ruler.