Arpita Akhanda named as Grand Prize Winner of the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2025
The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) announced, on 24 March, that Arpita Akhanda had been selected by the judging panel as the winner of the USD30,000 Grand Prize from among the 35 artists shortlisted for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2025 for her for her woven artwork Dendritic Data lb.
Now based in Santiniketan in West Bengal, Arpita prefers being known as a memory collector. Her work is not limited to a singular medium and involves paper weavings, performances, installations, drawings and videos.
The Sovereign Art Prize, now in its 21st edition, is Asia’s most coveted award in contemporary art. As well as providing artists with international recognition and generous financial prizes, it raises substantial funds to support disadvantaged children through the sale of the finalists’ artworks.
Yujung Kim from South Korea was also awarded The Vogue Women’s Prize for her piece The Island That Swallowed the Moon, The Drifting Days, as the highest-scoring female artist excluding the Grand Prize Winner. She will receive USD5,000.
The shortlist, which can be viewed here, included a diverse mix of works by leading contemporary artists including Be Takerng Pattanopas (Thailand), Dawn Ng (Singapore), Miyeon Yi (South Korea), Wong Sze Wai (Hong Kong) and Zheng Mengqiang (China).
The finalists were nominated by a board of independent arts professionals and were drawn from 14 different countries and territories around the region. Thailand had the strongest representation with seven artists shortlisted, followed closely by South Korea.
For the first time, international auctioneer Phillips is to act as an official Auction Partner in a collaboration that will leverage the strengths of both organisations to maximise fundraising potential and bring some of Asia’s most exciting artists to the global stage.
The finalists’ artworks will all be included in Phillips’ ‘New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art and Design’ sale, taking place on 29 March. Prior to the auction, the artworks were exhibited at Phillips’ Asia headquarters in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, coinciding with the city’s highly anticipated Art Week.
“’New Now’ is one of the most successful and iconic auction series held at Phillips. Collectors have looked to the New Now sales as a guidepost for emerging names on the cusp of widespread international acclaim,” said Phillips Asia Chairman Jonathan Crockett. “Works from the Prize shortlist align well with ‘New Now’, providing young artists with significant exposure and the opportunity to gain recognition and establish themselves in the art market.”
A Public Vote Prize of USD1,000 will be awarded to the artist whose work attracts the most votes from the public. The names of the winning artists will be announced on 31 March.
This year’s judging panel comprises writer, curator and museum director David Elliott; Artistic Director of Bangkok Art Biennale Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda; Singapore Art Museum’s Senior Curator Haeju Kim; Hong Kong-based artist, collector and architect Dr. William Lim; and last year’s winning artist, Sameen Agha, from Pakistan.
“This year’s final exhibition has expanded from 30 to 35 artists, but it has also exploded in other ways. As art, if it is any good, expresses its times, there is a significant strangeness, tension and energy throughout its works that cannot be overlooked,” said Judging Panel Chair David Elliott.
“The larger number of successful submissions from both Thailand and South Korea may reflect their growing, dynamic art scenes, but may also be acts of God. Hong Kong remains well shown but, although fewer in individual numbers, the finalists from the 11 remaining countries and territories strongly reflect the continent through a stunning range of works, media, attitudes and styles that communicates multifarious histories, cultural traditions and emotions within a contemporary framework.”
“As creativity is a universal gift, lacunae within it are always sad: this year there are countries either consumed by war or by economic or political turmoil with no artists in the final. Of course, no exhibition can pretend to grasp the complex creativity of a whole continent, but what the nominators and judges of the Sovereign Asian Art Prize at least can do is to reflect its temperature,” he added.
Funds raised through artwork sales will support SAF’s Make It Better programme, which is run entirely on donations and has been providing expressive arts groups for children living in Hong Kong’s most disadvantaged communities since 2013.
The group sessions support the social, emotional and behavioural challenges of children with special educational needs including autism, ADHD and other specific learning difficulties, and are run by a professional team of registered art therapists. The programme currently serves around 200 beneficiaries every week and has also recently expanded to provide education, training and support for the children’s caregivers and educators.
“We think that this year’s selection of finalists was the strongest ever,” said SAF Founder and Chairman Howard Bilton. “We are delighted to partner with Phillips and ‘New Now’ to offer these exceptional works to their worldwide network of collectors and art enthusiasts.
“For many of these artists, it will be the first time their works are offered at auction. We are certain that the fact that sales benefit our charitable programmes for disadvantaged children will get us all a great result and be of great benefit to the artists going forward.”
Art lovers can also join SAF at Art Central’s tenth edition running from 26 to 30 March at Central Harbourfront, where we will be exhibiting the finalists’ artworks for the Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prize Hong Kong 2024/25 at Booth E2. Come along to view the artworks and vote for your favourite or place a bid on it in the online auction.
