Mu Cao, Myrlande Constant, Nguyễn Trinh Thi, Rosa Chávez, Sana Na N’Hada and Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi (also known as crazinisT artist) have been awarded the Prince Claus Fund Impact Award 2024. The artists were offered an undisclosed monetary prize to recognise their work’s meaningful social impact. This year’s laureates ‘challenge us to review our old truisms, and critically assess our own and others’ dominant narratives’, stated Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, who presented the award.
The no-strings-attached prize money can be used by artists at their own discretion. The total given to each of the artists, who often work in challenging circumstances, is not disclosed by the foundation so as to avoid attracting any negative attention towards them.
Born in China, Mu Cao is a self-taught poet and fiction writer, and one of the few openly gay Chinese poets. His work blends personal experience and imagination to document the stories of rural and working-class gay men living on the margins of society.
Haiti-born Myrlande Constant is one of the first female artists to work with Vodou drapo, traditional Haitian flag art. Her intricate largescale works blend spiritual themes with personal and political narratives.
Nguyễn Trinh Thi is a Vietnamese filmmaker and artist whose work uses montage, incorporating found footage alongside her own audio and visual recordings to explore the legacies of colonialism and the erasure of indigenous Vietnamese cultures.
Rosa Chávez is a Guatemalan poet and activist. Her multidisciplinary work explores migration, rural and urban environments, and the individual and collective body.
Sana Na N’Hada is a filmmaker from Guinea-Bissau whose work spans documentary and fiction to explore the historical and social struggles of his homeland. After studying filmmaking in Cuba in 1967, he returned to Guinea-Bissau where he helped establish the National Film Institute (INCA) in 1972.
Ghanaian Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi, also known as crazinisT artisT, is a multidisciplinary artivist, curator, mentor and philanthropist. After training as a teacher and serving in the Ghana Education Service and as a pastor in local churches until 2010, she went on to study painting and sculpture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and developed her performance-based practice.
The six artists were chosen by an international jury chaired by Pablo Leon de la Barra, curator and researcher based in Mexico; accompanied by Kettly Mars, novelist and poet based in Haiti; Anocha Suwichakornpong, filmmaker and screenwriter based in Thailand; Sammy Baloji, photographer and visual artist based in Belgium; and Avni Sethi, interdisciplinary practitioner based in India.
Established in 2022, the Prince Claus Fund Impact Award is awarded every two years to artists whose work meaningfully engage their communities and address urgent contemporary issues.
The Impacts Awards Ceremony took place at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam on 3 December 2024.
