About

The South Asian Video Art Production Grant is a 15,000 Euro grant directed at artists living in South Asia and aims to be a tool for increasing contemporary artistic production in the video art field. 

This project was conceived through the vision and aspiration of the Prameya Art Foundation, with the objective of partnering with the Han Nefkens Foundation to conceptualise a production grant specifically for emerging and mid-career artists residing and practicing in South Asia, with a strong commitment to the medium of moving image art.

The grant aims to commission a moving image work over nine months by an artist from South Asia, nominated by experts in the contemporary arts. This regional focus recognises the commitment that Prameya Art Foundation has towards initiating support structures for artists across South Asia, especially in ways that do not currently exist.

The nominees who will be considered for this grant will be recommended by a panel of scouts who are experts in the field and the jury will consist of the partner institutions and collaborators. The recipient will be exhibiting the resulting work at the following institutions:  

Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), Japan
Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), Belgium
Nottingham Contemporary, UK
Para Site, Hong Kong
Prameya Art Foundation, New Delhi


This collaborative effort aims to connect artists globally and advance mid-career video artists' careers. We're excited about the possibilities this project holds for the South Asian art community.

2023





Shahana Rajani (b.1987, Pakistan) is the recipient of the inaugural Han Nefkens Foundation – South Asian Video Art Production Grant 2023, in collaboration with Prameya Art Foundation and in partnership with Nottingham Contemporary, UK; Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai, UAE; Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), Japan; Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), Belgium and Para Site (Hong Kong).


Shahana Rajani was selected as the recipient of the grant by a jury chaired by Han Nefkens and composed of:

Anahita Taneja (Founder and Chairperson, Prameya Art Foundation, India)
Shefali Somani (Founder and Vice Chairperson, Prameya Art Foundation, India)
Anushka Rajendran (Curator, Prameya Art Foundation, India)
Billy Tang (Director, Para-Site, Hong Kong) 
Kyongfa Che (Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan)
Nav Haq (Associate Director, M HKA, Belgium)
Sabih Ahmed (Director, Ishara Art Foundation, UAE)
Salma Tuqan (Director, Nottingham Contemporary, UK)
Smita Prabhakar (Founder and Chairperson, Ishara Art Foundation, UAE)

The Jury meeting was held in the presence of Hilde Teerlinck, CEO and Director of the Han Nefkens Foundation and Alessandra Biscaro, Coordinator of the Han Nefkens Foundation and was held at Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai, UAE. A special thanks to all of them.

Shahana Rajani will receive €15,000 for the production of a new work for which she will have 9 months to complete. The new work will be presented by all the partner institutions of the grant.


About the Artist

Shahana Rajani is a multi-disciplinary artist interested in tracing practices of belonging and resistance that are emerging at the intersections of sacred geographies, infrastructural violence and the climate crisis in Pakistan. Community-based and collaborative approaches to research are central to her practice. She uses video and sound to explore alternate, embodied ways of relating to the land and to each other. She is a co-founder of Karachi LaJamia (with Zahra Malkani) which is an experimental project exploring radical pedagogies in relation to struggles around land and water in the city.