Student Winners of Sadat Art Competition Announced
Lotus blossoms, spider-like wood shapes and reimagined self-portraits were among this year’s winners of the annual Sadat Art for Peace competition, held for UMD art students by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the Department of Art. The theme of the 2022 competition was Islamophobia.
Hosna Shahramipoor MFA ’22 won the two-dimensional category for her self-portrait, “A Thousand Needles.” In it, Shahramipoor’s photograph of herself has been altered to appear to have needles coming out of her face.
“Muslim women find themselves at the edge of a double-sided coin—one side being the embrace of their customs, the other being the painful discrimination brought upon by the judgment of non-Muslims,” she said. “In my self-portrait with a hijab and a thousand needles sticking out from my face, each of these countless needles represents a biased attitude, emerging, transformed, into metaphorical self-defense mechanisms.”
“Лотос” by Zijie Zhu ’22 won the three-dimensional category. Mixed-media lotus blossoms, the meaning of the piece’s Russian title, “reach for heaven” in this work. “Lotuses emerge from the muddy current of the ponds; pure, peaceful, and enchanting,” said Zhu. “The essential aspect of this artwork is to promote positivity, balance and healing.”
To see more competition winners, visit sadat.umd.edu/events/sadat-art-peace-competition.