ArtPrize winners revealed

Competition winds down in Grand Rapids, Michigan

The winner of the sixth annual Artprize public vote was "Intersections," by Anila Quayyum Agha. The Grand Rapids based annual event wrapped up this past weekend with a grand total of 1,536 entries this year.
The winner of the sixth annual Artprize public vote was “Intersections,” by Anila Quayyum Agha. The Grand Rapids based annual event wrapped up this past weekend with a grand total of 1,536 entries this year. Shelby Soberalski, Photo Editor
The sixth annual ArtPrize has come to an end as of Sunday, Oct. 12, with 398,714 votes cast in by the public for their favorite pieces.

The winner for the public vote grand prize of $200,000 was Anila Quayyum Agha and her entry “Intersections,” which was showcased in the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

The installation piece was a 6 and a half foot cube made of laser-cut intricate patterned wood painted black, which cast shadows on the surrounding walls from a single light bulb inside the cube.

“The Intersections project takes the seminal experience of exclusion as a woman from a space of community and creativity such as a Mosque and translates the complex expressions of both wonder and exclusion that have been my experience while growing up in Pakistan,” said Agha of her piece.

For the juried grand prize, the jury of art experts agreed to split the award between finalist entries “Intersections” by Anila Quayyum Agha and “The Hair Craft Project” by Sonya Clark. This is the first time in the six years ArtPrize has run that the same piece had spiked interest from both public voters and the jury voters- “Intersections.” Both artists have been awarded $100,000 for their prize.

“The Hair Craft Project” was shown at Kendall College of Art and Design, a 2-D design piece of photographs and sewn canvas. Several stylists collaborated to help design hairstyles for the piece, which were then photographed, and replicated with silk thread sewn into canvas.

“Photographs document those hairstyles created specifically for the project while the canvases provide a permanent example of the craft,” Clark said in her artist’s statement on www.artprize.org/sonya-clark/2014/the-hair-craft-project.

For more information about the grand prize winning pieces, and for category public vote finalists, go to www.artprize.org