The six worldwide artists shortlisted for the UK’s greatest up to date artwork prize open exhibitions in venues throughout Wales in the present day. Themes of dwelling, belonging, displacement and group come to the fore within the eleventh version of Artes Mundi, which invitations artists to deal with the human situation of their bid for the £40,000 prize.
The multi-venue format launched for the award’s tenth version continues to evolve this yr. A gaggle present on the Nationwide Museum Cardiff enhances in-depth solo displays at 4 associate venues: Mostyn, a public artwork gallery in Llandudno; Aberystwyth Arts Centre; Glynn Vivian Artwork Gallery, Swansea and Chapter Artwork Centre, Cardiff.
At Mostyn, the artist Jumana Emil Abboud connects the wells and comes of her childhood in Palestine to the historical past of the north Wales coast, the place they resonate afresh in a city well-known as a Victorian watering place. Forged wax objects, writing, embroidery, drawing and efficiency develop by means of her workshops with native communities.
Jumana Emil Abboud, set up view at Mostyn, Artes Mundi 11
{Photograph}: Rob Battersby
“I’ve launched the workshop contributors to the springs of Palestine, so that they turn into custodians of those tales,” she says. “And I’ll do the identical with the tales from Wales.”
Elsewhere on the similar venue, Peruvian Antonio Paucar is equally involved with the traditions and rituals that bind folks and locations, evoking his Andean heritage by means of performances and sculpture, typically within the panorama. Produced from alpaca wool, his handwoven sculptures echo the function of wool in Welsh craft observe.
Antonio Paucar, set up view at Mostyn, Artes Mundi 11
{Photograph}: Rob Battersby
“It’s about attempting to create roots”, explains Artes Mundi director, Nigel Prince. “We’re searching for to create which means at a really native degree for the works which might be on show, to elaborate and open out thematic connections. The native speaks to the worldwide, the worldwide speaks to the native.”
At first-time associate venue Aberystwyth Arts Centre, the Zambian artist Anawana Haloba and the Burmese artist Sawangwongse Yawnghwe each use household histories to discover displacement and colonial interference of their dwelling international locations. Haloba’s sculptural set up levels an experimental opera, which incorporates her father’s voice amongst others, in “a loud tune of resistance”.
Anawana Haloba, set up view at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Artes Mundi 11
Pictures: Rolant Davis
Born into Burma’s royal household however exiled since childhood, to Yawnghwe his recreations of household pictures, in oil work embedded inside fields of summary geometric patterns, signify a perpetually unknowable side of himself. “[The works] signify the impossibility of reconciliation of my household historical past,” he explains.
Sawangwongse Yawnghwe, set up view at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Artes Mundi 11
{Photograph}: Rolant Davis
That means is fragmented and obscured once more within the word-based observe of Californian Kameelah Janan Rasheed, through which texts are the on a regular basis carriers of Black experiences and disputed histories. Her set up at Glynn Vivian Artwork Gallery immerses viewers in an evolving physique of provocative, humorous, offended phrases.
Kameelah Janan Rasheed, set up view at Glynn Vivian Artwork Gallery, Artes Mundi 11
{Photograph}: Polly Thomas
Lastly, at Chapter Artwork Centre, supplies carry hidden histories in Sancintya Mohini Simpson’s presentation. The artist makes use of sugar cane, the reason for her ancestors’ compelled migration from India to South Africa, as a pigment in work which navigates the complexities of migration, reminiscence, and trauma.
The winner of the eleventh version of Artes Mundi might be introduced on 15 January 2026.
Sancintya Mohini Simpson, set up view at Chapter, Artes Mundi 11
{Photograph}: Polly Thomas
Artes Mundi 11, Nationwide Museum Cardiff, till 1 March 2026Artes Mundi 11: Antonio Paucar and Artes Mundi 11: Jumana Emil Abboud, Mostyn, Llandudno, till 21 February 2026Artes Mundi 11: Anawana Haloba and Artes Mundi 11: Sawangwongse Yawnghw, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, till 1 March 2026Artes Mundi 11: Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Glynn Vivian Artwork Gallery, Swansea, till 1 March 2026Artes Mundi 11: Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Chapter Artwork Centre, Cardiff, till 1 March 2026
