Pembroke Students Launch the Emery Prize to Support Contemporary Artists

Pembroke’s JCR Art Fund Collection and Gallery have announced Nour Jaouda as the inaugural winner of the Emery Prize. This award is an annual prize, given to one final year Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) or Master of Fine Art (MFA) student at the Ruskin School of Art. Named after the student founder of the Pembroke JCR Art Fund Collection, Anthony Emery, the prize supports the freshest and most exciting artistic talent coming out of the University of Oxford.

Pembroke students and the curator of the collection selected the prize winner based on the works exhibited at the recent Ruskin Degree Show at the Bullingdon Road Campus. After much deliberation, the panel chose Nour Jaouda as the inaugural winner of the Emery Prize. She exhibited a striking installation titled Friday Prayers at Darb Al Araba (2018) at the Degree Show.

Economics and Management undergraduate Joe Mead, Chair of the Pembroke JCR Art Fund Committee 2017-18, explained how they came to a decision: 'We were extremely impressed with the high standard of works in both the BFA and MFA 2018 Ruskin Degree Shows. We are delighted to award the inaugural Pembroke Emery Prize to Nour Jaouda, an artist who we selected on the basis of her carefully refined ideas, strong use of narrative and striking visual language.’
 

Cairo-based Libyan artist, Jaouda explained her work: ‘Through a deconstructed process of expanded painting and textile design, my pieces explore issues of identity, cultural mobility and the aesthetics of displacement. My latest work “Friday Prayers at Darb Al Araba’ is a textile installation responding to the nomadic culture of the Egyptian tribes in Ibn Khaldoun’s Camel market. By orchestrating and essentially reconstructing the history of these markets through these compositions, this work attempts subvert the conventional colonial ideologies that informs its history.’

The JCR Art Fund Collection houses numerous works by former Ruskin staff and student alumni, such as David Tindle, Richard Wentworth and Angela Palmer. The Emery Prize comes at an exciting moment in the gallery’s history, as it reinvents Pembroke’s ties with the Ruskin and offers up a space for emerging talent.

Head of the Ruskin School of Art Dr Anthony Gardner commented: ‘We at the Ruskin School of Art are delighted to join Pembroke College in supporting Ruskin students through the Pembroke Emery Prize. The Ruskin’s fine art students are among the most talented in the country and the Emery Prize is a fitting recognition of that talent, while offering students the chance to exhibit in the brilliant Pembroke JCR Art Gallery.’

Jaouda is currently developing her exhibition with the Pembroke JCR Art Gallery, which will take place in October 2018. Visit the Pembroke JCR website or Facebook page to stay updated. Find out more about the artist’s work on her website.