London based artist Emma Hart (b. 1974) has won the sixth Max Mara Art Prize for Women in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery. The biannual prize supports UK-based female artists who have not previously had a solo survey exhibition, awarding the winner with a six month Italian residency tailored to the artist and their winning proposal. Hart was chosen as the winner from a shortlist of five artists that included Ruth Ewan, Ana Genovés, Tania Kovats, and Phoebe Unwin.Working across ceramics, video, photography, and sound, Hart aims to “tell you how it really is and how it really feels” by enabling “situations where outward appearances are eaten away by inner doubts.” According to the prize organizers, her winning proposal focuses on the power of the family and the highs, lows, and everyday realities of family life as expressed in the systems and relationships of Italian culture as well as the symbols, possessions, and objects of the unique Italian ethos and traditions of family.Hart’s bespoke residency, which is organised by Collezione Maramotti in collaboration with Max Mara and the Whitechapel Gallery, starts in June 2016 and is divided between the three Italian cities of Milan, Todi, and Faenza. During her residency, Hart will create a new body of work that will be shown in a major solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2017 before touring to Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, Italy.On behalf of the judging panel, Iwona Blazwick, OBE, Director of the Whitechapel Gallery and chair of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women jury, said: “It was clear that Emma Hart’s proposal was a deeply personal subject key to her life and work: the power of the family. The jury were impressed with the depth and breadth of references in Hart’s approach, from the Milan System’s Approach of family psychotherapy to the novels of Elena Ferrante, to the Italian tradition of Maiolica ceramics.”Dr. Luigi Maramotti, Chairman of Max Mara said: “I am very excited about Emma’s project as it explores two particularly rich areas of expertise in Italy - the field of psychotherapy and the tradition of ceramics, both historic and contemporary. The production of ceramics has been consistently innovative, particularly in Faenza. We are excited to see how Emma interprets this tradition into her thoroughly personal and contemporary practice.”The judging panel for the sixth Max Mara Art Prize for Women was chaired by Iwona Blazwick OBE, Director of the Whitechapel Gallery, and included Fiona Bradley, Director of the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Sarah Elson, Collector and Founder of Launch Pad, a commissioning series supporting emerging artists; Helen Sumpter, Critic and Senior Editor / Web Editor at ArtReview; and Artist and Royal Academician Alison Wilding.
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