This week, it was announced that the 2018 Max Mara Art Prize for Women was awarded to Helen Cammock. The prize is a biannual award promoting and nurturing rising female artists in the UK. In collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery, it provides opportunity and residency for female artists who have not yet had a solo survey exhibition.
Iwona Blazwick, Director of Whitechapel Gallery announced Cammock as the seventh winner of the prestigious award, selected by a panel of judges including Céline Condorelli, Eloise Hawser, Athena Papadopoulos, and Many El-Sayegh.
Helen CammockImage by Thierry Bal, courtesy of Courtesy of Max Mara, Whitechapel Gallery, and Helen Cammock.
“Helen Cammock is a pioneer in her cross disciplinary practice, bringing together art and music,” said Blazwick.
Cammock takes inspiration from musicians and writers like Nina Simone and James Baldwin to create evocative moving images. Her practice includes photography, writing, poetry, song, performance, printmaking, and performance. Exploring political and social situations, she explores notions of blackness and womanhood, wealth and poverty, and power and vulnerability.
Helen CammockImage by Thierry Bal, courtesy of Courtesy of Max Mara, Whitechapel Gallery, and Helen Cammock.
The artist will now spend six months in residency in Italy—in Bologna, Florence, Rome, Palermo, and Reggio Emilia—building a platform for her major exhibition to be shown at Whitechapel in 2019. She’ll explore the voice of mourning and loss, resilience and survival, focusing on emotion in Italian culture and the female voice in Italian history.
“It’s incredible to have been awarded such a supportive and artist focused prize,” said Cammock.
Helen CammockThere’s a Hole in The Sky Part 1
2016
Video Still
HD Video (20mins)
Courtesy of Max Mara, Whitechapel Gallery and Helen Cammock.
