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Shortlist announced for Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2025
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[Klik hier voor de Nederlandse versie]
Fiona Lutjenhuis, Kevin Osepa, Thierry Oussou and Buhlebezwe Siwani have been nominated for the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2025. The Mondriaan Fund today announced the shortlist for its incentive award for emerging visual artists.
The four nominees will receive a production budget to create new work in the coming months. The ultimate winner will be selected by the jury based on this new work, which will go on display at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam from Saturday 29 November 2025 onwards. When making their decision, the jury focuses primarily on how the artist offers new insights into visual art within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, thereby contributing meaningfully to its development. The winning artist will receive a cash award of € 60,000 to support their artistic practice.
To arrive at this selection of artists, the jury visited exhibitions over the past year and scouted potential candidates. The jury believes that Lutjenhuis, Osepa, Oussou and Siwani all represent, each in their own way, promise for the future. While one stood out with a single, powerful presentation that had immediate impact on the art field, another convinced with a diversity of expressions across multiple presentations. And while one took a clear stand on a pressing social issue, another offered a deeply personal reflection on what it means to be human. The jury notes that all four nominees are united by their unique visual language and convincing vision within what is still, for most, a developing oeuvre.
Jury
The members of the jury for the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2025 are: Colin Huizing (independent curator), Imara Limon (Chief Curator at Amsterdam Museum), Rita Ouédraogo (Co-Founding Curator at Buro Stedelijk, researcher and writer), Wilma Süto (Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Dordrechts Museum), Joep Vossebeld (Curator at Odapark Venray and writer) and Eelco van der Lingen (Director of the Mondriaan Fund), who is non-voting Chair.
About the Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome is an incentive award for emerging visual artists from the Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. The aim of the Prix de Rome is to stimulate the development of highly talented visual artists and to boost their visibility, thereby ensuring that the visual art field remains topical. The Mondriaan Fund has organised and financed the award since 2012. The Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2025 is being organised in collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. An accompanying publication will also be produced.
The shortlist
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(left) Fiona Lutjenhuis. Photo: Natascha Libbert . (right) Fiona Lutjenhuis. Installation with the works I Flourish Into Chaos, 2024; Bread Curtain, 2024; and I Flourish Within Chaos, 2024. Ankhmania, 1646, The Hague, 2024. Photo: Jhoeko.
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Fiona Lutjenhuis
Zevenaar, The Netherlands, 1991, lives and works in Amsterdam
Seen at: 1646 (The Hague)
Fiona Lutjenhuis has a multidisciplinary practice encompassing installations, paintings, sculptures, and artists’ books. Lutjenhuis grew up in a cult, and learned to see the world differently to her peers. By taking this history as her subject, the artist explores how beliefs and fantasies – from secret societies to extraterrestrial life – can shape our perception of reality.
The jury notes that Fiona Lutjenhuis, through her imaginative and singular oeuvre, achieves a compelling and multifaceted presentation. The artist layers autobiographical events in a kaleidoscopic composition. Her paintings demonstrate impressive artisanry, while the work exudes a sense of freedom and ease.
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(left) Self-portrait Kevin Osepa in collaboration with Eve Dijkema. (right) Kevin Osepa, film still ‘La Ultima Ascensión’, 2022.
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Kevin Osepa
Curaçao, 1994, lives and works in Amsterdam and Curaçao
Seen at: Buro Stedelijk x Keti Koti – Westerpark (Amsterdam), CBK Zuidoost (Amsterdam), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the National Maritime Museum (Amsterdam)
Kevin Osepa is a visual artist and filmmaker. His work focuses on Afro-Caribbean spirituality, identity and colonial memory, often addressed from a personal and queer perspective. Osepa uses photography, video and installations to create worlds in which suppressed knowledge and rituals are given new life.
The jury commends Kevin Osepa for not only visualising the consequences of colonialism through his unique lens, but also transcending them. His mystical-realistic stories offer an alternative to dominant Western narratives and aim for holistic unity. In doing so, the artist moves compellingly between different cultures and histories. The jury believes that his layered approach creates a profound and innovative oeuvre.
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(left) Thierry Oussou. Photo: Studio Oussou . (right) Thierry Oussou, Cotton Field the 2024 Harvest, 2024. Photo: Studio Oussou .
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Thierry Oussou
Allada, Benin, 1988, lives and works in Amsterdam and Benin
Seen at: Buitenplaats Kasteel Wijlre, Lumen Travo Gallery (Amsterdam), TextielMuseum (Tilburg)
Conceptual artist Thierry Oussou uses various media to visualise his narratives. In his recent work, he focuses on professions that are often marginalised, such as drivers, builders and cotton workers. Oussou explores the conditions under which they work, aiming to highlight their significance to society.
The jury commends Thierry Oussou for the depth of his work, the richness of his oeuvre, and the playful manner in which he intertwines form and context. Oussou’s material research is thorough. He transforms materials into powerful carriers of cultural significance and memory, casting new light on the history of trade and exploitation. The jury saw this, among other things, in his powerful works on cotton at the TextielMuseum in Tilburg, and in his exhibition at Buitenplaats Kasteel Wijlre, where he explored the role of labor and production and drew a compelling connection between Limburg and Benin.
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(left) Buhlebezwe Siwani. Photo: J. Jockel . (right) Buhlebezwe Siwani, Isaziso 1996, 2023. Photo: Kristien Daem, with thanks to Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, 2023.
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Buhlebezwe Siwani
Johannesburg, South Africa, 1987, lives and works in Amsterdam and Cape Town
Seen at: Kunstinstituut Melly (Rotterdam), ROZENSTRAAT (Amsterdam)
As a Sangoma, a traditional spiritual healer, Buhlebezwe Siwani explores the relationship between ancestral rituals and modern life in South Africa. Her own body often plays a central role in her performances, photography, sculptures and installations. The artist draws on her personal experience to illuminate socio-political themes, such as the Black female body, colonial history, Black communities and the tensions and paradoxes of modern-day society.
The jury commends Buhlebezwe Siwani for successfully combining politics, biography, spirituality and imagination in her oeuvre. Her work, focused on the patriarchal norm and its influence on the Black female body, encompasses various forms of expression while maintaining a consistent level of quality. The jury praises the artist’s visual translation of her experiences within the South African context, and how this engages an international audience.
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