Jameel Prize: Award for Islamic Contemporary Art and Design

The Jameel Prize is an award for Islamic contemporary art and design. The Prize was inaugurated by the V&A in 2009 in partnership with Art Jameel.

The Jameel Prize is an international competition, open to artists and designers across the world. The Prize is biennial and worth £25,000.

Over 250 entries were received for Jameel Prize 5 [2018], from countries as diverse as Australia, Bangladesh, Iraq and Kenya. Works by the eight finalists are exhibited here, ranging from fashion design to paintings and multimedia installations. Together, the objects on display illustrate the richness of the Islamic traditions from which their creators sought inspiration.

The V&A is home to one of the world’s great collections of Islamic art. The Museum began to assemble this collection in the 1850s as part of its mission to invigorate and improve British design. The Museum’s founders believed that designers could learn from Islamic approaches to structuring pattern and matching decoration to shape and function