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World Art Dubai 2021, the region’s most accessible and affordable art fair, has revealed the winners of it coveted award categories during the four-day event.Running until April 10 atDubai World Trade Centre (DWTC),the show champions inclusivity with prizes awarded to emerging artists, photographers and children.

The show features more than 2,000 artworks from over 250 artists and galleries from 27 countries with visitors over the weekend enjoying an array of features at the show including digital, wearable and sustainable art, a collection created by Dubai Police, as well as a series of engaging workshops.

World Art Dubai Awards

TheWorld Art Dubai Awards sees four winners take home prizes with the victors unanimously selected by World Art Dubai’s expert curators, Batool Jafri, the ‘Emirates Woman of the Year 2018’; Samar Kamel, an Egyptian artist, curator and author; and Petra Kaltenbach, a fine artist, videographer and graphic designer.

Magda Malkoun, from Artezaar Online Art Gallery,who won the award forBest Emerging Artist,said; “I’m really honoured to be given the Emerging Artist award, it’s very humbling. World Art Dubai is a great platform for emerging artists, it’s both world and locally renowned with a huge mix of cultures and nationalities. I’ve been drawing since I was very young but really started to put my time into it over the past five years.”

Scooping the award for Best Gallery was the Latin-American Pavilion. Speaking shortly after the announcement, organiser Alvaro Cirillo said; “We are very excited and proud to receive this award. This is our first time exhibiting in World Art Dubai and we hope to be here again next year and the following years as well. We won the Best Gallery Award for the Latin American gallery exhibition which is so rewarding as it is a representation of our culture. For the future we are hoping to have more artists for Latin America represented in international shows.”

The Best Artist Award went to Rahul Inmadar,a Mechanical Engineer and Management student who quit his corporate career in 2013 to pursue his dream and become a full-time artist; “I am very happy and satisfied to be chosen to win the solo artist award. I have been exhibiting at World Art Dubai for the past 5 years and I was shortlisted back in 2016, here I am now winning the award. World Art Dubai gives us access to a great art market with variety of arts and that is why I always made sure to participate every year,” said Inmadar.

And Coco Valdez took home the Outstanding Art Award; “I can’t find the words to describe how excited I am to have won this award; I can barely believe it! It’s my first time visiting this beautiful city and getting to know the beautiful people of Dubai.

I am always looking for ways to progress my art, always looking for the newest trends in art and technology and trying to find a way to combine these two together and this exhibition has given me many ideas and inspirations for the future.”

Rove Hotel’s Emerging Artists Competition

Running for its third year, Rove Hotels crowned Sara Alharbalias winner of the Emerging Artists competition, securing her free exhibition space at World Art Dubai 2022; “It feels so good to be winning this award. There was a lot of effort that went into bringing my artworks to this professional level and it’s not easy to please people with an eye for art. I’m thankful I had so much positive feedback.”

Rove’s Public Choice winner this year was Motaz Khalil, who will have their work which is a reflection of all of the places he has lived and worked, displayed for three months within one of Rove Hotel’s Dubai properties; “It’s my first time to exhibit at an art fair which is how I found out about the competition. When my name was called as the public choice winner, I really couldn’t believe it – it’s such a good feeling and I’m looking forward to seeing my artwork in the hotel. The reason I joined the competition this year was because everyone was telling me World Art Dubai was the right place to be for an emerging artist as a great place to meet people and get the best exposure.”

School awards

Five Dubai schools were also encouraged to show their creative flair with group projects submitted from Nord Anglia, Repton Dubai, GEMS New Millennium School, Foremarke School and Jumeirah Baccalaureate School in the form of painted murals; sculptures; installations and mixed media artworks. Schools submitted two pieces, one each from junior and senior school children under the theme ‘Inspired by Great Artists’.

Repton Dubai Schoolwon the award for their primary school entry with a prize of AED 3,000 for their art department, with Nord Anglia Schooltaking the prize for their secondary school entryalso being awarded AED 3,000 to be dedicated to the art department.

Public Art Competition

ADNOC made its announcement at World Art Dubai to run a public art competition, where budding artists are invited to submit a proposal for a creative outdoor installation that visualises how the UAE’s community will look in the future as part of the country’s #Next50 ambitions. To be in with the chance of winning AED50,000, full funding to create the installation as well as exhibition space in the gardens of ADNOC ‘s new HQ campus, entrants should check out ADNOC’s social media pages for further details on how to enter.

The competition will be judged by a panel of ten judges including regional experts and all entrants must be UAE nationals or residents and be over 18 years old. Submission deadline for the competition is May 31.

Urban Art DXB

Urban Art DXB, an area dedicated to graffiti and street art that is curated by Louis Wright from gallery Vandalist Art, has gathered huge attention over the first few days of the show due to its eye-popping live graffiti sessions by local and international artists. Artists exhibiting as part of Urban Art DXB include FINK 22, Dozi Dreams, RayaanCassieen, iPOT, Maddy Butcher, Rabab Tantawy, Marvelous Morph, Enforce One, Maajed Ahmed, Culture, Camila Schubert, SATWA 3000, Maseda,Tarsila Schubert and Thais Kelly.

Urban Art DXB is also hosting a live graffiti jam battle at World Art Dubai, with artists battling it out in teams of two.

Safety First

World Art Dubai 2021 is being held under stringent safety and hygiene protocols. DWTC has proven its capability to curate the safest face-to-face environment and deliver world-class events with the highest safety protocols, as evidenced by the recent edition of Gulfood, which welcomed tens of thousands of visitors with 98% of local and international attendees recording a ‘safe’ or ‘very safe’ experience.

To ensure safety of visitors, and in line with all government guidelines, a range of measures have been implemented, including social distancing, mandatory mask wearing, regular disinfection and clearly marked and defined entry and exit areas. World Art Dubai has partnered with www.fynd.art to provide visitors with a contactless experience. By scanning an art piece with a smartphone, visitors can explore information about artwork exhibited, artists and galleries.

Check out our highlighted artists and many more at World Art Dubai which is being held at Dubai World Trade Centre, halls 1 and 2 from 7-10 April 2021 between 1-9pm each day, except Saturday which runs until 8pm. Tickets cost AED 20 for adults, AED 10 for children, with family packages available. Don’t miss out on the creative journey! Get tickets online through www.worldartdubai.com.Free parking is available for all visitors to World Art Dubai at Exhibition Street Multi-Story Car Park.