Runa Islam ( bn, রুনা ইসলাম; born 10 December 1970) is a Bangladeshi-born British visual artist and filmmaker based in London. She was a nominee for the 2008

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

. She is principally known for her film works.

Early life

Islam was born in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

and moved to London aged three. She attended the

Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (State Academy of Fine Arts) was founded in 1870 in Amsterdam. It is a classical academy, a place where philosophers, academics and artists meet to test and exchange ideas and knowledge. The school supports ...

, Amsterdam, from 1997 to 1998. In 1999, Islam exhibited at EASTinternational which was selected by

Peter Doig Peter Doig ( ; born 17 April 1959) is a Scottish painter. One of the most renowned living figurative painters, he has settled in Trinidad since 2002. In 2007, his painting ''White Canoe'' sold at Sotheby's for $11.3 million, then an auction r ...

and

Roy Arden Roy Arden (born 1957) is a Canadian artist, born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He also creates sculpture from found objects, oil paintings, graphite drawings and collage, and curates and writes on contemporary art. Career Arden gr ...

. She completed a M.Phil at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It ...

, London, in 2004.

Career

Islam has been inspired by European

auteurs An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...

such as

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...

. In 2005, she participated in the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. Apollo Islam's 2006 16mm film installation ''Conditional Probability'' was the result of a residency at North Westminster Community School, in the final year before its closure. It was first exhibited at the

Serpentine Gallery The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery ...

and was said to "imbue even the most mundane dusty corner with a little visual magic". The other artists included in the project to document the life of the school before it closed were

Christian Boltanski Christian Liberté Boltanski (6 September 1944 – 14 July 2021) was a French sculptor, photographer, painter, and film maker. He is best known for his photography installations and contemporary French Conceptual art, conceptual style. Early li ...

Faisal Abdu'allah Faisal Abdu'Allah (born 1969 in London) is a British artist and barber. His work includes photography, screenprint and installations. Life and work Abdu'Allah was born Paul Duffus in 1969 and grew up in a Pentecostal family. He was educated at W ...

and the architect Yona Friedman. In 2010, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (MCA) presented Runa Islam's first solo exhibition in Australia. Works included Magical Consciousness (2010), co-commissioned by the MCA and the

Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MACM) is a contemporary art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Place des festivals in the Quartier des spectacles and is part of the Place des Arts complex. Founded in 1964, it is ...

(MACM) and Scale (1/16 Inch = 1 Foot) featuring the now demolished

Trinity Square (Gateshead) Trinity Square is a shopping and leisure centre in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. The new centre was constructed on the site of former multi-storey car park and shopping complex going by the same name, which originally opened in 1967. The ...

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park ( British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a bui ...

. Islam says, "I feel I've got a lot to say with film. The camera can go to impossible places. It can re-articulate time. Films from other epochs allow you to go back in time. But so much of contemporary life is also envisioned through film and TV. We remember people we've never met because we've seen them on a screen."

Awards and nominations

In 2008, Islam was nominated for the

2008 Turner Prize The 2008 Turner Prize was awarded on 1 December 2008 to Mark Leckey. The £25,000 Turner Prize is awarded by the Tate to one of four nominees and is based on their work in the previous year. The other three 2008 nominees were Runa Islam, Goshk ...

. Runa Islam

References

External links

Turner Prize 2008 on Tate web site
**A review of ''Conditional Probability'' followed by a brief interview about the work in ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an engine ...

'' magazine.
Life in Film
**Islam chooses films and film moments that have inspired her for ''Frieze''.
SHUGOARTS
**A page with a number of photographs of Islam's work and stills from her films.
Telegraph slideshow

Interviews

Runa Islam Interview; Göteborg International biennial 2005
**Interview with particular regard to the works: ***''Time Lines'' ***''First Day of Spring''
Answers to Questions: Runa Islam in conversation with Tine Fischer
**Islam talks extensively about her film work.

Reviews

**Review of exhibition from ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

''
The Telegraph review by Alastair Sooke
**Review of Islam's work ''Conditional Probability''.
Frieze review
**Review of ''Empty the pond to get to the fish'' from ''Frieze''
Frieze review – Camden Arts Centre
**Review of exhibition featuring the works: ***''How Far To Faro'' ***''The First Day of Spring'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Islam, Runa 1970 births Living people British Muslims Bangladeshi emigrants to England Artists from London British women artists People from Dhaka Alumni of the Royal College of Art English contemporary artists