During a "covid-proof" RM Young Blood Award Ceremony, Barbara Bos, Head of Exhibitions at Museum Voorlinden, announced that Narges Mohammadi (graduate
Narges received the award for an intimate film she made on the 'making of' her graduation project Passing Traces for her BA Fine Arts degree. The video was presented within a sculpture made of halva, the same material used for her installation work presented during the KABK Graduation Show earlier in September this year.
Winning the RM Young Blood Award means that the work by Mohammadi will be acquired by Museum Voorlinden as part of the museum's permanent collection.
"Especially in a time of distance in which contrasts become much more visible and tangible, Narges Mohammadi knows how to connect people through her autobiographical work. Her work moves the viewer directly, because it touches on the essence of being human for better or for worse."
Graduation Project 2020, Narges Mohammadi
Passing Traces
700 kg of Persian halva (flour, sugar, butter and cardamom) and two wooden constructions of 2.15m x 4.78 m x 0.80 m
700 kg of halva – hand stirred flour, butter, shivering hot sugar syrup and soft cardamom flavoru prepared by many strong hands. A Persian sweet traditionally prepared at funerals, collectively eaten it comforts the bereaved. Passing Traces is a room of halva in a narrow passage-like space. The walls depict impressions of a sober bedroom interior. The furniture leaves traces of a long-lost presence. Just as life is finitely ungraspable, Passing Traces follows its own lawless path, slowly decaying and visibly cracking due to gravity’s weight.
Best of Graduates 2020
The award-winning work by Narges Mohammadi is featured in the Best of Graduates 2020 exhibition on view until Friday 20 November, 2020 at the Ron Mandos Gallery in Amsterdam.
Among the artists selected to participate in the Best of Graduates 2020 edition from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK) are BA Fine Arts graduates Philipp Groubnov, Anastasia Kiseleva, Hannah Reede, Christian Roncea, Simon Sjöholm and BA Photography graduate Sophie Schwartz.
