Indian artist Anup Mathew Thomas, winner of the 2015 Han Nefkens Foundation – BACC Award for Contemporary Art

21.02.2018

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Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

Anup Mathew Thomas

Anup Mathew Thomas works primarily with the medium of photography and his work often engages ostensibly local narratives. Over the last decade he has produced a series of projects that engage with and make reference to the cultural history of his native Kerala. Thomas’s works introduce audiences to stories that may have gone missing from the archive. In exploring the slippages between documentary and artistic practice, Thomas employs both anecdotal and factual narrative styles, and his work often culminates in carefully staged portraiture. His practice explores the immediacy of the photograph, and its potential for ambiguity, as a medium for storytelling.

Anup Mathew Thomas lives and works in Bangalore, India.

His recent participation in group exhibitions include Kochi Muziris Biennale, Kochi (2012); The Matter Within, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (2011); Generation in Transition, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2011); The Self and the Other, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona (2009-10); and Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie, Arnolfini, Bristol (2009). Solo exhibitions include shows at Gasworks Gallery, London (2007); The Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo (2010) and Lothringer13, Munich (2013). He is a recipient of The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2014.

Event Date : 08 January 2015
We are pleased to announce Indian artist Anup Mathew Thomas as the winner of the second Han Nefkens Foundation – BACC Award for Contemporary Art. This biannual award seeks to encourage artists in Asia under the age of 40 who already have a solid body of work but have not yet been showcased in major institutions. The award consists of 15,000 US dollars: a $3,000 artist’s fee and $12,000 towards the production of new work as well as a residency and an exhibition at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.
Statement from the Jury:
The international jury has unanimously chosen the Indian artist Anup Mathew Thomas because of his creative inquiry, which almost transcends the boundaries of photography and his use of photography in ways that push the boundaries of the medium’s established position. The jury was very impressed with his patient, methodical approach to the painstaking process of research and documentation over a period of time, allowing the material to come into its own. His method is such that ‘place’ becomes a natural background rather than a geographical ‘other’, while the stories that are being told are brought into relief, to be observed and experienced in a way which moves the audience and invites further reflection and discussion.
The jury believes that he is highly suitable for this residency and that his residency in Bangkok will benefit both him and the city. They are confident that he will be able to engage in a productive way with the environment, in view of both his background and the historical links between India and Thailand and the social identities of both nations.

Arts Network Exhibition department

Press release

The jury members are:
1. Luckana Kunavichayanont : Director of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
2. Hilde Teerlinck : President of the Han Nefkens Foundation
3. Prof. Ute Meta Bauer : Founding Director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (CCA)
4. Dr. Yongwoo Lee : President of the International Biennial Association (IBA)
5. Bose Krishnamachari : President of the Kochi Biennale Foundation
6. Han Nefkens

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