Nour Jaouda the inaugural winner, completed her undergraduate degree in Fine Art at the Ruskin, exhibiting her striking installation Friday Prayers at Darb Al Araba (2018) at the Degree Show which took place at the Ruskin’s Bullingdon Road campus from 15th – 20th June 2018.

 

Jaouda is a Cairo-based Libyan artist born in 1997. She is interested in the tactile process of constructing and deconstructing cultural motifs, found objects and historical narratives in order to challenge conventional ideas of identity formation. Her works attempt to orchestrate anachronistic, personal and collective mise-en-scènes that simultaneously echo traditional Libyan craftsmanship and imported western value systems, two narrativising notions of placement/displacement, cultural mobility and the fluidity of our historical identities.

 

Economics and Management undergraduate Joe Mead, Chair of the Pembroke JCR Art Fund Committee 2017-18, remarked: 

'We were extremely impressed with the high standard of works in both the BFA and MFA 2018 Ruskin Degree Shows. We are delighted to award the inaugural Pembroke Emery Prize to Nour Jaouda, an artist who we selected on the basis of her carefully refined ideas, strong use of narrative and striking visual language. I personally am very excited to see the Pembroke JCR Art Gallery working with and supporting many more talented emerging artists such as Nour in future years.'

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 Nour Jaouda commented:

‘Having the incredible opportunity to exhibit my work in Pembroke Art Gallery would allow my work to not only respond to the space’s rich historical collection but would also enable it to become a part of the growing dynamic of Oxford’s contemporary art scene. Through a deconstructed process of expanded painting and textile design, my pieces explore issues of identity, cultural mobility and the aesthetics of displacement. My latest work Friday Prayers at Darb Al Araba is a textile installation responding to the nomadic culture of the Egyptian tribes in Ibn Khaldoun’s Camel market. By orchestrating and essentially reconstructing the history of these markets through these compositions, this work attempts subvert the conventional colonial ideologies that informs its history. Being able to further expand this work and allowing it to engage in a difference space will help formulate a much-needed dialogue about not only the current political climate in Egypt, but also our complex relationship to our collective and personal past.’