Dutch-Filipina artist Martha Atienza wins the Baloise Art Prize at the Art Basel International Fair 2017 for her video installation “Our Island, 11°16`58.4” 123°45`07.0”E.” She wins the prize alongside American artist Sam Pulitzer.

Atienza’s work is both a social commentary and an homage to her hometown Bantayan Islands. The video installation shows how capitalism has forced local fisherfolks to resort to illegal fishing methods. More than that, Atienza’s work tells the viewer how large companies disrupted the ecosystem. Her work also shows the social and political reality the whole country experiences. “It is work done together with my neighbors, the fisherfolks, and the island’s youth,” she told Silverlens Galleries.

“This is the reality that we face. We need to change our ways but we also need to realize that the seas are changing and destruction is here. We have nothing to catch anymore. It is time to unite and tackle these issues together,” Atienza said.

Beyond “Our Island, 11°16`58.4” 123°45`07.0”E” as a representation of a community, Atienza intends to serve her community through her work. “Attention has to be redirected in some way. Back to a place where awareness about the environment and marine life’s condition in particular can be included in discussions,” she said.

Congratulations to Silverlens artist MARTHA ATIENZA for winning the Baloise Art Prize in this year’s Art Basel for her work Our Islands 11°16’58.4″N 123°45’07.0”E. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Baloise Group is committed to promoting the fine arts for several decades. To widen its efforts, Baloise introduced the Baloise Art Prize, an award given annually to two emerging young artists in Art Basel Statements. Baloise acquires works by the prize winners and donates them to Nationalgalerie Berlin and the Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean Luxembourg, which will also hold solo exhibitions for the artists. Many earlier prize winners are now prominent members of the international art scene. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ MARTHA ATIENZA | @artbasel Basel Hall 2.1 Booth N17 13 – 18 June, 2017 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Messe Basel Messeplatz 10 4005 Basel Switzerland ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ www.artbasel.com/basel www.silverlensgalleries.com ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #BaloiseArtPrize #silverlensgalleries #marthaatienza #ABB2017 #artbasel #basel #contemporaryart #artph #silverlensartist

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Last year, Atienza also exhibited a multimedia installation entitled “Endless Hours at the Sea” at the Singapore Biennale. The installation, an endless journey on the vast ocean that defies the concept of time and location, has been recorded through Atienza’s trips on cargo ships.

The prize includes CHF 30,000 and an opportunity for the artists’ works to be displayed at two museums in Europe: the Nationalgalerie–Staatliche Museen zu in Berlin and the MUDAM in Luxembourg.

Since 1999, the Baloise Art Prize is awarded to two young artists at the Art Basel International Fair.

[Via Baloise Group]