The award Shizuko Yoshikawa Award 2024 goes to Gemma Ushengewe

Gemma Ushengewe from Geneva has been awarded the Shizuko Yoshikawa Prize 2024, endowed with 25,000 Swiss francs. Ushengewe works across disciplines in the fields of documentary and experimental film, writing and performance.

Gemma Ushengewe's artistic work deals with structural racism, surveillance and neo-colonialism, according to the organizers of the Shizuko Yoshikawa Award. Ushengewe's questions are complex and contemporary, extremely political, "but not subject to the fleeting currents of the zeitgeist", argued the jury. With the Shizuko Yoshikawa Award, it wants to promote art that seeks new forms of expression.

Ushengewe completed a bachelor's degree in film followed by a master's degree, both at the Geneva School of Art and Design (Head). Ushengewe's previous works include directing "The Black Hedgehog" (2020), a documentary and experimental film that deals with structural racism faced by the community with African roots.

The Shizuko Yoshikawa Prize has been awarded since 2018. It is named after the Japanese-Swiss artist Shizuko Yoshikawa and is aimed at young female artists - whereby the female form explicitly includes non-binary and trans people. The prize is intended to make it easier for them to embark on an artistic career and to encourage them to assert themselves in the art world. Gemma Ushengewe will be awarded the prize on Wednesday at the Head.

SDA