HIROSHIMA.- The City of Hiroshima has selected the winner of the 12th Hiroshima Art Prize, Mr. Mel Chin (born 1951 in the United States of America).

The Hiroshima Art Prize

The Hiroshima Art Prize is an international art prize established in 1989 by the City of Hiroshima. Its purpose is to acknowledge the achievements of an artist who has made the greatest contribution to the peace of humankind in the field of art in order to spread understanding of the “Spirit of Hiroshima” throughout the world. The prize is awarded every three years, and the achievements of the winning artist will be introduced through an exhibition at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art. Past recipients include Issey Miyake, Robert Rauschenberg, Leon Golub and Nancy Spero, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Daniel Libeskind, Shirin Neshat, Cai Guo Qiang, Yoko Ono, Doris Salcedo, Mona Hatoum and Alfredo Jaar.

Explore the thought-provoking works of Mel Chin through books and documentaries.

Artist statement

The significance of this honor cannot be overstated. It comes as I live in an area ravaged by destruction in an era of human-induced climate change and as I continue to be a distant witness to the ongoing savagery of bombardments upon innocent and desperate civilian populations. As an American citizen my obligations force an undeniable complicity. The Hiroshima Art Prize strengthens a resolve to resist the support for this indefensible cruelty and protest such involvement. The prize obligates another commitment, to foster complex ideas and relationships to be tools in the pursuit of ideals aligned with resistance to violence and the expansion of empathy. —October, 2024 / Mel Chin.

Mel Chin

Mr. Mel Chin is an artist whose ideas are inspired by environmental issues and other complex social challenges and are conveyed in distinctive ways that are non-conforming to established categories. His multidisciplinary body of work, which includes sculptures, drawings, paintings, videos, animation, video games, and large-scale installation art, has attracted people from diverse backgrounds and cultivated their interest in societal issues. In addition, Mr. Chin has created long-term projects that explore how art may inspire social awareness and responsibility by collaborating with local communities and taking a scientific approach in art creation.

Over the course of a career spanning nearly half a century, he has been at the forefront of international art exhibitions, including the Gwangju Biennale and the Biennale de Lyon, as well as solo exhibitions at museums across the United States. In addition, a major retrospective exhibition was held at the New Orleans Museum of Art in 2014 and at the Queens Museum in New York in 2018.

Reason for selection

Through dialogue and collaboration, Mr. Chin has attempted to present an alternative approach to bring about social change through art while deeply engaging with communities. Mr. Chin was chosen as the recipient of this award because we anticipate that the commemorative exhibition will engage Hiroshima in a novel way through partnerships with residents and local communities as well as the use of creative materials and venues.



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