Weimar/Munich (dpa) – Artists from Egypt, South Africa and India are honored this year for their commitment to artistic freedom and cultural exchange. The Goethe Medal 2022 is awarded to the Egyptian multimedia artist Mohamed Abla, the South African historian Tali Nates and the two Indian artists Nimi Ravindran and Shiva Pathak, as the Munich Goethe-Institut announced on Wednesday.

The laureates are pioneers in their cultural and civic engagement and are artistically committed to an open, democratic and equal society, said Goethe-Institut President Carola Lentz. In his works, Mohamed Abla shows the diversity of Egyptian culture and makes it accessible to an international audience thanks to his close ties with Europe. “For decades he has been committed to understanding and diversity, especially in the Egyptian cultural scene, and championing freedom of expression,” he said.

With the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Center, Tali Nates has founded “a central place of memory in South Africa”. According to Lentz, the work of Israeli Nates deals with the past and present of the genocide in a new way and looks with scientific precision at the roots of the Holocaust and genocides such as in Rwanda in 1994. “And the artists of the Sandbox The Nimi Ravindran and Shiva Pathak collective shake things up with their work, which makes feminist perspectives artistically visible,” said Lentz.

The Goethe Medal is the official badge of honor of the Federal Republic of Germany for personalities who have made a special contribution to international cultural exchange or to the teaching of the German language. Since the first award in 1955, a total of 371 personalities from 70 countries have been honored.

The prize is due to be presented in Weimar on August 28, the birthday of the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). The winners will present their works at the Kunstfest Weimar from August 26 to 28.

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