“Hello. My name is Tristram Hunt. I’m the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, in London and I’m here to congratulate the Jameel Family on 75 years of remarkable philanthropy.
At the V&A we are honored to host the Jameel Gallery, showcasing art and design from the Islamic Middle East and North Africa. Situated at the very heart of our museum, this is one of our
most beautiful and most important galleries.
The Jameel Family have not only supported the construction of that gallery, crucially, they’ve supported its intellectual development through endowing curatorial posts – and to my mind that’s what always strikes me about the Jameel Family support for art in this country – that they mix historicism and modernity. They think about the traditions of Islamic art and design and how that can be showcased and developed and challenged today.
That’s why we’re also so privileged to lead on the ‘Jameel Prize for Art and Design‘ inspired by Islamic traditions, which is hosted here at South Kensington but now travels around the world.
In the coming years, we are going to build up our really fruitful relationship with Art Jameel, and this seems exactly the kind of cosmopolitan, international, partnership showcasing the very best work from the Middle East, here in London, building up partnerships between people and countries and identities which has been at the heart of the Jameel Family’s mission.
So we’re very grateful to the Jameel Family.
We congratulate them on 75 years of generosity, leadership and cultural insight and wish for many more to come.”
