Setareh Shahbazi has been named the winner of the 2024 Wi Di Mimba Wi Prize.
Established in 2021 by Berlin-based contemporary art platform SAVVY Contemporary and AKB Stiftung, a foundation set up in Einbeck, Germany by Carl-Ernst Büchting in 1998, the prize is awarded every two years to an artist of colour based in Germany. Shahbazi will receive a one-year working grant of €30,000 as well as funding for the realisation of a new work, curatorial support and an opportunity to exhibit the work at SAVVY Contemporary and other venues.
Shahbazi was selected as winner by a jury consisting of curator and cultural practitioner Marie Helene Pereira; curator and writer Zdenka Badovinac; Jean-Ulrick Désert, artist and inaugural Wi Di Mimba Wi recipient; Mirjami Schuppert, curator and prize coordinator for AKB Stiftung; and Renan Laru-an, artistic director of SAVVY Contemporary.
The jury said in a statement: “Setareh Shahbazi has managed to create several vectors in her work and has the possibility to transgress the limitations of exhibition making and engage into transformed formats which will allow her creativity and political positions to translate into strong art-making.”
Born in Tehran in 1978, Shahbazi is currently based in Berlin. In her work, which spans across installation, printmaking and photography, she reconstructs narratives based on her personal experiences and found objects such as old family photographs and newspaper clippings. She has exhibited in Iran, Lebanon, Germany, Italy and France. Shahbazi is also the co-artistic director of KHF – Künstlerhof Frohnau, an artist-run studio village situated in woods on the periphery of Berlin.
The artist commented: “I am immensely grateful for this precious opportunity to work with the amazing team of SAVVY Contemporary and the many people that are needed to shift languages, perceptions and visibilities.”
