Tadáskía Wins the 2025 K21 Global Art Award

Brazilian artist Tadáskía has been awarded the 2025 K21 Global Art Award, one of the most prestigious art prizes in Germany. The award, endowed with €100,000, is presented by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, in collaboration with the Friends of the Kunstsammlung and supported by the Reydan + Roger Weiss Foundation.

Born in 1993 in Rio de Janeiro, Tadáskía’s multifaceted practice spans drawing, sculpture, poetry, and installation. Her work explores transformation, self-perception, and Afro-trans* cosmologies—interweaving abstract forms with intimate gestures and materials rooted in Afro-Brazilian traditions.

For K21, she created the site-specific installation brincando animada: travesti mariposa centopeia (animated play: travesti moth centipede), which includes a semi-abstract wall drawing, a bilingual poem, and a sculptural arrangement of taboa (a reed-like plant), fruits, vegetables, and liquids. The installation reflects on impermanence, care, and the ephemeral conditions through which collective environments emerge.

Tadáskía was nominated by Jochen Volz (Director, Pinacoteca de São Paulo) and selected by an international jury including Doryun Chong, the late Koyo Kouoh, Omar Kholeif, and Volz.

Following awards to Senzeni Marasela (2023) and Wang Tuo (2024), this year’s prize continues to foreground urgent contemporary voices from the Global South. The acquired work becomes part of the museum’s permanent collection, expanding its global and intersectional narratives.

For more Information, please visit: kunstsammlung.de