Iranian artist Maryam Tafakory has won this year’s Film London Jarman award, which recognises British excellence in the field of moving image.
Tafakory took the £10,000 prize for her work, which combines found footage with the cinematic traditions of post-revolutionary Iran. Her 2020 film Irani Bag used a split-screen technique to show how handbags were often deployed in films as stand-ins for human touch. The censorship of intimacy is a theme through Tafakory’s work – from the abstract, non-linear narrative film Nazarbazi (2022) to the following year’s Mast-del, which explored a forbidden relationship between two women.
Born and raised in Iran – but based in the UK – Tafakory dropped out of university courses in both her home country and Southampton, where she was studying computer science, before receiving a master’s in fine arts from Oxford and a PhD from Kingston University.
In a forthcoming interview with the Guardian, Tafakory explains how she revisited the archive of post-revolution Iranian cinema during lockdown so that she could “write on to them the stories that they never told us, and talk about what has always been buried in plain sight … I want these images to confess. Misogyny and the absence of queer narratives are inseparable from the identity of post-revolution Iranian cinema.”
Screenings and exhibitions of Tafakory’s work have previously taken place at venues including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Cannes and the Toronto international film festival. She has previously won the Chicago international film festival’s Gold Hugo award.
Matthew Barrington, the Barbican’s cinema curator and a spokesperson for the jury, said that Tafakory’s work was especially notable for its innovative blend of reality and fiction. “Her practice is a compelling exploration of displacement, memory and resistance, interweaving archival fragments, poetry and personal narratives to craft deeply evocative works. Her films navigate historical and personal traumas with remarkable sensitivity, reflecting on the intersections of Iranian cultural identity and individual struggles.”
Now in its 17th year, the Jarman award, which was named after pioneering film-maker Derek Jarman, has earned a reputation for spotting rising talent within the UK art scene. Artists who have previously been shortlisted include Heather Phillipson, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Monster Chetwynd, Charlotte Prodger, Laure Prouvost, James Richards, and Project Art Works – all of whom went on to be shortlisted for, or to win, the Turner prize.
This year’s other nominees included Larry Achiampong, Maeve Brennan, Melanie Manchot, Rosalind Nashashibi and Sin Wai Kin. Tafakory was presented with the award by actor Rupert Everett at an event in London’s Soho hotel.
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