Anish Kapoor, a British-Indian sculptor, was
named the Genesis Prize Laureate 2017 and said
that he will use the $1 million prize money to
help refugees.
“I am an artist, not a politician, and I feel I
must speak out against indifference for the suffering
of others,” Kapoor said. “There are over 60
million refugees in the world today … Their wellbeing
is our wellbeing; their desperation is ours.”
The Genesis Prize, considered to be the
“Jewish Nobel Prize,” is
awarded to people of Jewish
heritage who have excelled
in their professions. Kapoor, who was born in
Bombay to an Iraqi-Jewish mother and Indian
father, has made a number of notable public
sculptures, including Cloud Gate, also known as
“the Bean,” in Chicago’s Millennium Park. He was
knighted by the Queen in 2013.