Meet the 2022 Laureate Nairy Baghramian
The Nasher Sculpture Center announces Nairy Baghramian as the recipient of the 2022 Nasher Prize. Now in its sixth year, the Nasher Prize is an international award for sculpture, established to honor a living artist who elevates the understanding of sculpture and its possibilities. Baghramian will be presented with an award designed by Renzo Piano, architect of the Nasher Sculpture Center, at a ceremony in Dallas on April 2, 2022.
The 2022 Nasher Prize Laureate Nairy Baghramian takes the creation and presentation of sculpture as her de facto subject yet makes works highlighting the poignant, contradictory, and sometimes humorous circumstances that can suffuse both the artistic process as well as everyday life. An Iranian-born German artist, Nairy Baghramian explores elements of sculptural practice and installation to create works that challenge their settings and upend expected modes of presentation as well as the architectural, sociological, political, and historical contexts that inform them.
The Nasher Prize jury deliberated virtually in June 2021 to determine the 2022 laureate, under the grip of a global pandemic and after a year of social distancing.
“This year, after a prolonged time of separation from people and places during the pandemic, the work of Nairy Baghramian stood out to the jury as exemplary for its consideration of the body, human relationship, and the built environment through sculpture that champions the often-overlooked objects, people, and experiences at play in daily life,” says Nasher Director Jeremy Strick.
“Baghramian’s visual language is rooted in traditions of sculptural form and shape,” says Nasher Prize juror, artist Phyllida Barlow, “but she transforms those traditions into profoundly personal relationships with diverse references—from the architectural to the anthropomorphic—where curvaceous, stretched, folded forms compete with linear structures, all delivered with Baghramian’s intensely researched and deft technical and material innovations.”
Baghramian is the sixth artist to receive the Nasher Prize; previous winners are Michael Rakowitz (2020-21), Isa Genzken (2019), Theaster Gates (2018), Pierre Huyghe (2017) and Doris Salcedo (2016). The 2022 Nasher Prize jury that selected Baghramian is comprised of David Adjaye, architect; Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Director of Castello di Rivoli, Italy; Phyllida Barlow, artist; Pablo León de la Barra, Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rio de Janeiro; Lynne Cooke, Senior Curator, National Gallery of Art; Briony Fer, Professor, History of Art, University College London; Yuko Hasegawa, Director, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; Hou Hanru, Artistic Director, MAXXI, Rome; and Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England.
Nasher Prize Dialogues – Public Figures: December 8, 7–9pm. A panel of artists will discuss figurative sculpture in public spaces around the world. New Museum, New York, NY, 235 Bowery.
Nasher Prize Graduate Symposium: January 18–21, 2022. Graduate students present scholarly work on topics related to the 2022 Laureate Nairy Baghramian. Virtual.
Nasher Prize Dialogues – Laureate Lecture: April 1, 2022. Laureate Nairy Baghramian speaks about her work to students and the public.
Nasher Prize Award Gala: April 2, 2022. Laureate Nairy Baghramian will be honored at a black-tie award gala.
The 2022 Nasher Prize is generously co-chaired by Nancy Carlson and Adriana Perales who help garner support for the prize and its attendant programs, including the Nasher Prize Dialogues.
