The Royal Society of Sculptors is thrilled to announce that the guest judge for its 2021 Gilbert Bayes Award for early career sculptors will be Touria El Glaoui, founding director of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair.
Touria will join the judging panel which each year selects a small group of outstandingly talented sculptors of any age or nationality who are making the transition from study to professional practice. The winners will receive serious recognition for their work, an exhibition at Dora House and a year of professional development from a range of industry experts.
Born and raised in Morocco, Touria completed her education in New York where she pursued a 10-year career in wealth management before relocating to London. She founded the Contemporary African Art Fair here in 2013 and has since launched it in New York (2015) and in Marrakech (2018). 1-54 is now a world-leading platform dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora.
Parallel to her career, Touria has organised and co-curated exhibitions of her father’s work, artist Hassan El Glaoui, in London and Morocco. She has spoken widely and chaired numerous discussions on contemporary African art and women in leadership at leading institutions and events globally. Jeune Afrique magazine has named her as one of the 50 most powerful women in Africa.
The closing date for entries to the Gilbert Bayes Award 2021 is 2 November 2020. For further information, see sculptors.org.uk/gba
