Ugandan artist Zarina Bhimji is the winner of this year’s Roswitha Haftmann Prize, named for the late Swiss dealer Roswitha Haftmann and administered by Kunsthaus Zürich. The best-endowed art award in Europe, the CHF 150,000 prize is presented annually to artists with ‘exceptional lifetime achievements’. Previous laureates include Walter De Maria, Maria Lassnig, Robert Ryman, Cindy Sherman, Robert Frank, VALIE EXPORT and Cildo Meireles.
Born in Uganda in 1963 to Indian parents, Bhimji exiled the country at the age of eleven and moved to the UK, where she went on to study at Leicester Polytechnic, Goldsmiths and the Slade School of Fine Art. Bhimji’s photographs and films often traverse deserted landscapes and meditate on lights, architectural details and trances of human presence. Her work ‘is an unmistakeable blend of life, art, politics and history’ says Thomas Wagner, member of the Board of the Roswitha Haftmann Foundation, ‘in which no element compromises any other. The gently flowing imagery of her films lays bare the poison that lurks within both romanticized landscapes and national history books.’
A prize ceremony will take place at the Kunsthaus Zürich on 29 November 2024. Bhimji’s films Yellow Patch (2011) and Blind Spot (2023) will be screened at the Kunsthaus Zürich from 89 November to April 2025
