Art Basel 2022: Turmalin and Helena Uambembe win the 23rd Baloise Art Prize

The Baloise Art Prize, worth CHF 30,000, has been awarded in the Statements sector for over 20 years by a jury made up of international experts. This year the jury chose Tourmaline and Helena Uambembe. In addition, Baloise acquires the works of the two and donates them to two important European museums, the MMK Frankfurt and the MUDAM, Luxembourg.

The members of the jury for the Baloise Art Prize this year are: Karola Kraus, Director General of MUMOK Vienna, chairperson of the jury; Marie-Noëlle Farcy, Curator/Head of Collection, MUDAM, Luxembourg; Susanne Pfeffer, Director MMK, Frankfurt; Susanne von Meiss, Meiss Collection, Zurich and Nina Zimmer, Director Kunstmuseum Bern / Zentrum Paul Klee.

Tourmaline: With her latest work Pollinator, the artist, filmmaker, author and activist creates an unconventional, poetic and personal portrait of the black, queer and transgender communities. At the core of the film is a black and white aerial shot that accompanies the artist from an Edwardian room in the Brooklyn Museum to the nearby botanical gardens. Dressed in sophisticated clothing that simultaneously conceals and reveals, the artist intensely interacts with a lush natural environment, expanding the idea of ​​the garden into the notion of pleasure. With original personal footage, clips from her last simulated flight, and found footage, she also pays homage to Marsha P. Johnson, an inspirational figure in New York's late '60s queer scene.

Tourmaline, *1983, lives in New York, USA
Statements Stand M4, Chapter NY, New York, USA

Helena Uambembe: The stand is divided into two rooms, one resembling a living room and the other a TV room. The living area recreates the artist's childhood home and contains items such as vases or teacups, as well as prints of personal archive images. Using objects, installations, paintings, prints and performances, the Angolan artist reconstructs her memories of her childhood in Pomfret, South Africa. It shows the extent to which history and personal experience can be inscribed in objects and materials and then be detached from them again.

Helena Uambembe ,*1994, lives in South Africa
Statements Stand M12, Jahmek Contemporary Art, Luanda, Angola

During Art Basel 2022 (June 14-16), the Baloise Studio will be showing in Hall 2.2. all winners and their works. (Baloise/MC)