Art for Change: Meet the Overall Winner and Winner for Asia

Richard Thompson, Haining Wang and Justine Simons OBE

Global creative solutions company M&C Saatchi Group, in partnership with London’s iconic Saatchi Gallery, present the six winners of their annual international art initiative for emerging artists, the Art for Change Prize.

With the concept of Art for Change in mind, this year’s climate focused prize invited emerging artists from around the world to explore one of the most urgent issues of our time and creatively respond to the theme ‘Regeneration’. The six winning artworks open a conversation to examine the theme from different global perspectives, look to create new stories of a liveable future, and empower individuals and entities to act. It’s a call to action for meaningful change, recognising that there’s no art on a dead planet.

Selected from over 3,000 entries from 130 countries worldwide, our six winners were decided by some of the best business and creative minds from the M&C Saatchi Group globally and eminent guest judges. In this Art for Change series, we hear from the winners for 2023.

The Art for Change Prize Winners exhibition at Saatchi Gallery, London has been extended until 14th January 2024. Entry is free to all. The Art for Change Prize will return in Spring 2024.

Q> Describe yourself in three emojis.

Q> Why did you apply for the Art for Change Prize?

Haining> Recently graduating from the RCA, I was at a pivotal stage in my artistic journey, while I felt that the theme of this year's prize – 'Regeneration' – resonated deeply with the themes of capitalist anxiety and excess that I was investigating. This platform offered a rare opportunity to share my work and participate in a broader discussion around societal and environmental change through art.

Q> Can you tell us more about where you are from and how this affects your work?

Haining> I grew up in Beijing during China’s rapid economic rise and arrival onto the world stage and pursued higher education in the US and UK. My diverse background along with my undergraduate studies in Ethics, Politics, and Economics led me to examine my rapidly changing environment from multiple perspectives, reframing my experience of capitalism in the context of the different developmental trajectories other nations have gone through. I thus seek to remain sensitive to how the broader currents of political and economic forces shape individual lives and create pockets of absurdity, tension, and beauty. I mine these intimate moments of experience to create work. 

‘Molt’ by Haining Wang

Q> Tell us about your winning artwork and the relationship to this year’s theme ‘Regeneration’

Haining> The work reflects on the relationship between subject and object, commodities and bodies, consumption and trace. It explores the idea that behind the consumption of beauty and cosmetic products lurks an urge to preserve and perfect. The bottles and vessels stand as relics of today’s commodity culture that will soon grow obsolete. 

These ubiquitous containers are embalmed while their exoskeletons are extracted. Erect or limp, plump or wrinkled, they are traces left behind, reduced to pockets of air trapped in plastic skins – muted rubber phantoms. The work hints at consumerism’s provocation of excess, the implosion of desire, and a lingering impotence.

The title of my body of work – 'Molt' – refers to the process by which animals shed skin as part of a natural process of regeneration, which evokes the excessive and reductive tendencies of commodity culture. 

Q> Where do you find your inspiration?

Haining> I have drawn on my personal experience in the corporate world and my work investing in the consumer and internet industries in China. More broadly, I find inspiration in poetry, intimacy, the beauty of impermanence and in the raw complexity of social reality.   

Q> Do you believe that art has the power to change the world?

Haining> Yes. I believe that art sparks and critiques ideas, ideas shape ideals and beliefs, and collective beliefs inspire the acts that create change. I also believe that change always starts small – with the seeds of a thought.

Q> If you could be compared to one artist from art history, who would it be?

Haining> I greatly admire the work of Rachel Whiteread and her poetic treatment of space, loss, and materiality. 

Q> What’s your dream for the future?

Haining> I hope for opportunities to grow and evolve as an artist and create work that resonates and provokes. I also hope for the continued development of the art world in China, with more varied and sustainable structures of funding, support, and education in the contemporary arts. It is so exciting to witness and anticipate the energetic innovations from this rapidly evolving cultural sphere.