Emma Hart, ‘Mamma Mia’, 2017. Image courtesy Whitechapel Gallery

London-based artist Emma Hart has been announced as the sixth winner of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women. Organised in collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery and Collezione Maramotti, the Max Mara Art Prize is a bi-annual award established in 2005, and the only visual art prize for women in the United Kingdom.

Organised and funded by Italian fashion company Max Mara, the Prize reflects the importance the brand places on women in the art world. It aims to promote and nurture emerging female artists, providing them with opportunities to develop their talents through a six-month Italian residency, after which the artist will take on an ambitious new project which will then be presented at the Whitechapel Gallery in London and the Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The prize is open to female artists living and working in the UK who have not previously had a major solo survey exhibition.

Emma Hart, ‘Dirty Looks’, 2013. Image courtesy the artist.

Selected by a panel of judges from a shortlist of five artists, which also includes Ruth Ewan, Ana Genovés, Tania Kovats and Phoebe Unwin, Hart is now spending six months in Lombardy, Umbria and Emilia-Romagna on a residency tailored to her interests. Her works created during the residency will be showcased in a major solo exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery later this year, before beginning her tour in Collezione Maramotti.

Emma Hart portrait. Image courtesy Thierry Bal.