The V&A and Art Jameel have announced Khandakar Ohida (b. 1993, India) as the winner of the 7th edition of the Jameel Prize, an international award for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition. The triennial competition, founded in 2009 in collaboration with Art Jameel, focusses this year on artists working with moving image and digital media. An exhibition of works by the winner and shortlisted artists opens at the V&A South Kensington on November 30, 2024 through to March 16, 2025.
Khandakar Ohida received the award for the film ‘Dream Your Museum’ (2022) a portrait of her uncle, Khandakar Selim, who has built an extraordinary collection of objects and memorabilia over the last 50 years. Ohida documented the collection as it was displayed in her uncle’s traditional mud home, which has since been torn down. The work challenges the formal nature of museums in India, particularly as bastions of nationalism that offer little room for alternative narratives. ‘Dream Your Museum’ counters the colonial museum model, instead inviting people to find value in the seemingly banal objects that are an intrinsic part of their lives. As members of India’s Muslim community, both Selim and the artist confront the socio-political hierarchies that shape identity, offering a nuanced exploration of cultural representation and belonging.
