Rehana Zaman is the winner of the 2023 Jarman Award and recipient of the GBP£10,000 prize.
Zaman triumphed from a shortlist of artists including Ayo Akingbade, Andrew Black, Julianknxx, Sophie Koko Gate and Karen Russo. Films by all shortlisted artists will be screened continuously on 25 & 26 November, at the Whitechapel Gallery.
Zaman was selected from a jury including Matthew Barrington, Cinema Curator, Barbican; Shaminder Nahal, Head of Specialist Factual, Channel 4; Artist Michelle Williams Gamaker, and Lila Rawlings, Head of Creative: Film and Television at Esperanto Filmoj.
Zaman was awarded for her films which, Williams Gamaker said, centre on ‘alternative ways of storytelling through collaboration and material experimentation… the jury appreciated the humanity in Zaman’s work, whereby there is a sensitive navigation of issues of social justice, and space for the viewer to experience the resilience, joy and community to counter the hostile policies, which greatly impact the individuals in Zaman’s work.’
Established in 2008, the Jarman is awarded to contemporary artists working in film – run in partnership with the Whitechapel Gallery and Barbican.
Previous winners of the award include Grace Ndiritu (2022), Jasmina Cibic (2021), Hetain Patel (2019) and Daria Martin (2018). In 2020, the entire shortlist – Michelle Williams Gamaker, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, Jenn Nkiru, Project Art Works, Larissa Sansour and Andrea Luka Zimmerman – was jointly awarded, with the prize equally divided in ‘solidarity [with] the artistic and creative community in the face of challenging economic conditions resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic’.
