Controversy Misses the Mark in Blake Prize for Religious Art

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
By Andrew Taylor

"Meat" (2011) by Saif al Murayati 

AUSTRALIA---Saif al Murayati's unfolding history promises controversy when the misspelt words "Assang (sic)", "wikki (sic)" and "Merdoch (sic)" flash on to a screen beside a battered road sign of a man shovelling dirt. To the soundtrack of Islamic chants, words like uprising and prison appear between words written in Arabic. But the four-minute video work is not a rant against religion; rather it documents the artist's life as a refugee. "The whole video is about the loss of identity," Murayati told the Herald. Murayati, who fled Iraq in 1991 to escape Saddam Hussein's persecution of the Kurds, is one of 53 finalists in this year's Blake Prize for religious art, which were announced today. [link]