Artraker Award Exhibition

Co-exhibitors:

Assadullah Baran Bromand (Afghanistan), Amirhossein Bayani (Syria), Oksana Chepelyk (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Russia, Ukraine, USA), First Floor Gallery Harare (Zimbabwe), Alexandra Handal (Palestine), Alana Hunt (Indian occupied Kashmir), Valentina Curandi and Nathaniel Katz (Queens/USA, Sarajevo/Bosnia, Herzegovina), Chang-Jin Lee (Korea, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Netherlands), Emeric Lhuisset (Syria, Iraq, Colombia), Rozhgar Mustafa (Iraq), Issa Nyaphaga (Cameroon), Vincent Okuja (Uganda), Christine Renaudat (Colombia), Elvira Santamaria Torres (Colombia), Nida Shams (Pakistan), Lalage Snow (Afghanistan) and Alexia Webster (South Africa).

For its inaugural Award, Artraker received 300 submissions from 90 countries. An international jury shortlisted 17 submissions and from these 5 nominees for the Award were selected. 12 shortlisted submissions were exhibited at Artraker's Launch and Award Event in a ceremony held on International Peace Day (21 September 2013) at Goldsmiths College, London University. Cotterrell's works, Sightlines Iand GreenRoom were presented as part of the exhibition. The prize was presented by Martin Bell, UNICEF Ambassador and former BBC war correspondent. “In an inter-connected and inter-dependent world, artists as witnesses of war can be a powerful force for peace,” affirmed Bell, who covered foreign assignments in more than 80 countries and 18 wars.

The event marked the inaugural 2013 ‘Artraker Sessions’ and official launch of Artraker, a new organisation set up for artists using art to explore conflict. Themed ‘Unseen, Unknown, Unsung’, the evening drew an audience of over 100 participants from the arts, media, diplomatic, political, corporate and the peace-building communities.