Alia Farid

"Art is an important part of thinking and understanding things. Without it, life would be one-dimensional. I live in a society that is ambivalent about supporting art and culture, so having the endorsement of the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme really means a lot to me," said Alia Farid upon receiving the news about the award.

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Alia (b.1985) lives and works in Kuwait and Puerto Rico. She has had solo exhibitions in Kunsthalle Basel, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Kunstinstituut Melly (Rotterdam), and Portikus (Frankfurt am Main). Recent and upcoming group shows include participation in the Whitney Biennial, Bienal de São Paulo, Gwangju Biennale, Sharjah Biennial, Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991-2011 in MoMA PS1, Yokohama Triennale and Asia Pacific Triennial. She has forthcoming solo exhibitions at Chisenhale Gallery and CAC Passerelle, and is amongst the shortlisted artists for 2023 Artes Mundi Prize.

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Alia has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from la Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico (San Juan), a Master of Science in Visual Studies from the Visual Arts Program in MIT (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and a Master of Arts in Museum Studies and Critical Theory from the Programa d’Estudis Independents MACBA (Barcelona).

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Alia Farid is the third award recipient. Farid's exhibition at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter will open in September 2024, and will be the first presentation of her work in the Nordic region.

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“We are incredibly proud to announce Alia Farid as the recipient of the award. Her extraordinary practice across multiple media raises awareness of highly important topics in our time whilst carrying a powerful aesthetic and an embedded materiality and sociality that often results in large-scale works,” said Caroline Ugelstad, Director of Collection and Exhibition and Chief Curator at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, on behalf of the jury.

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“We are proud to welcome Alia Farid into the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme and present her work in Norway for the first time. Her work is unique and important in these challenging times, drawing attention to significant questions about social and environmental landscapes. She engages with migration and marginal histories across borders by finding connections and showing us how our stories are interconnected. Her work speaks to recurring situations across the world, sending a powerful message that has the potential to be an important catalyst for change,” said Paulina Wilhelmsen, jury member and founder of the award.