Nil Yalter and Vera Molnár Receive 2018 Prix Aware for Outstanding Merit

The 2018 Prix Aware for outstanding merit has been awarded to Turkish artist Nil Yalter and French artist Vera Molnár. Presented by the non-profit Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibition, the prize recognizes women artists with careers spanning at least three decades. Each recipient receives €10,000 (approximately £8,800) and will have their works exhibited at the French National Archives in Paris. Yalter's installation Le Chevalier d’Éon (1978), shown during the award event, merges film, photography, and painting to explore the life of the Chevalier d'Eon (1728–1810)—a spy for King Louis XV and maid of honour to Empress Elizabeth I of Russia—alongside documenting a friend's gender transition using a Portapak camera. Molnár, a pioneer in computer and algorithmic art, created Letters to my mother (1981-1990) by using an 'imaginary machine' to replicate her mother's handwriting, blending personal history with algorithms to produce chaotic, seismograph-like drawings.