PARASTOU FOROUHAR, Esra Ersen, Else Gabriel, Ana Prvački, Annegret Soltau und Hoda Tawakol
The Gabriele Münter Prize is the only art prize in Europe that is awarded exclusively to female visual artists over the age of forty. The prize, endowed with 20,000 euros, was created because female artists in this age group are significantly underrepresented in important awards. The Gabriele Münter Prize offers an effective opportunity at national level to highlight, promote and honour the outstanding achievements of contemporary female visual artists living in Germany. The prize is named after the painter Gabriele Münter (1877-1962) – one of the most important female artists of modernism. Her example is still an encouragement for female artists today.
In 2025, the Gabriele Münter Prize, a symbol of the visualisation and promotion of outstanding female artists aged 40 and over, will be awarded to the Iranian-German artist Parastou Forouhar, born in Tehran in 1962. The jury, consisting of Ina Bierstedt (artist), Ahu Dural (artist), Nezaket Ekici (artist), Dr Nadia Ismail (Director of Kunsthalle Giessen), Dr Christine Litz (Director Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg), Beate Passow (artist) and Anja Richter (Director Museum Gunzenhauser), were convinced that Parastou Forouhar should not only be honoured for the remarkable quality of her work, but also for the courage and consistency with which she stands up for freedom, human rights and dialogue between cultures.
Forouhar stood out from 1299 applicants with her extraordinary work and deeply impressed the jury. Parastou Forouhar’s work is characterised by her personal experiences of repression and exile. In her artistic practice, she explores how these experiences can be reflected in a world characterised by humanitarian crises. Her work includes drawings, installations, photographic works, objects and ongoing activist archives and actions. Ornaments and calligraphic elements of her mother tongue play a central role: they initially appear decorative, but on closer inspection reveal oppressive scenes of control and oppression.
Forouhar’s works question cultural clichés and viewing habits. She utilises the aesthetic appeal of textiles to undermine traditional mechanisms of alienation without dissolving foreignness. Her art remains deliberately ambivalent and resistant to any form of appropriation. Her politically motivated archives and actions reinforce this approach and make her work an ongoing exploration of power, identity and cultural memory.
The Gabriele Münter Prize, endowed with 20,000 euros, was awarded to Parastou Forouhar on 10 March 2025. The accompanying exhibition at the Museum Gunzenhauser in Chemnitz will take place from 27 September to 16 November 2025. Forouhar’s works will be presented there together with the works of the five other finalists Esra Ersen, Else Gabriel, Ana Prvački, Annegret Soltau and Hoda Tawakol.
