Artist Baseera Khan has been awarded Brooklyn Museum's second annual UOVO Prize, recognizing the work of emerging Brooklyn-based artists.
Khan's work concentrates on Islamic cultural and religious ephemera, performance, sculpture, collage and video, and addresses issues of surveillance, otherness and the body.
Khan will receive a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, a commission for a 50 x 50-foot public art installation on the façade of Bushwick's UOVO: BROOKLYN and a $25,000 unrestricted cash grant.
Khan, who grew up in Denton, Texas, has lived in Crown Heights for the past 10 years and said they moved close to the museum in 2007 and have been close ever since.
"I am deeply moved that my first museum solo exhibition will happen in a space that provided me and others with so much comfort during the lockdown of COVID-19,"Khan said.
"Past the visions of cherry blossoms and botanic desires, the Museum has such a vast collection and scholarship around Islamic art as well as work by Black and Brown artists. The work I will present could not be in a better location."
Khan uses history, humor, and a sense of catharsis in their work to call out the social architectures of othering, exploitation of cultures and resources, and xenophobia. Their practice often incorporates collage techniques, their own body and includes many references to historical and contemporary Muslim culture and politics.
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art Associate Curator Carmen Hermo will curate the artist's first solo museum show. Hermo said Khan's proposal for the museum, "thrilled the curators with its poignant synthesis of historical and contemporary references."
"Their deep sense of care for their communities, razor-sharp critical foundations, and rich sense of humor imbue their work with both power and play, and will challenge and delight visitors to the museum in 2021."
UOVO Founder and Chairman Steve Guttman said the team was excited by the Khan's selection as the second recipient of the UOVO Prize.
"We look forward to celebrating this achievement and showcasing their thought-provoking composition at UOVO: BROOKLYN in 2021."
