CICA Vancouver is proud to announce the winners of the first-ever CICA Vancouver X Jelina Couture 2025 International Art Awards, an exciting new initiative launched this year to recognize and support exceptional artistic talent worldwide. This award program is dedicated to providing emerging and mid-career artists with international exposure, celebrating diverse creative voices, and fostering global artistic exchange.
For its inaugural edition, the awards attracted submissions from around the world, with artists being evaluated by an esteemed jury of curators, museum directors, and art professionals. Winners not only receive monetary prizes but also gain prestigious exhibition and residency opportunities at CICA Vancouver.
2025 Award Winners
🏆 Beacon Award – $5,000 CAD
Cara Guri
Cara Guri’s painting practice investigates identity, portraiture, and the interplay between visibility and concealment. Drawing inspiration from historical Western art, she reinterprets traditional symbols to reflect contemporary themes. Her Paper Dolls series deconstructs and reimagines classical paintings, critically engaging with the male gaze and historical representations of the body.
Outside In, 2021 | Oil on Panel
Photo by Dennis Ha
✨ Rising Star Award – $3,000 CAD
Mohadese Movahed
Mohadese Movahed’s work explores themes of memory, identity, and place. Her piece Inherited Passageway presents an ornately designed doorway leading to a blocked wall, layered with graffiti, aged photographs, and bullet holes. An embedded mirror reflects the viewer’s surroundings, merging past and present, while evoking the tension between Iran’s cultural heritage and its turbulent history.
Inherited Passageway, 2022 | Oil, Acrylic & Collage on Canvas
Photo by Dennis Ha
💫 People’s Choice Award – $1,000 CAD
Sara Saadatfard
Sara Saadatfard’s art blends Persian heritage with contemporary techniques, exploring concepts of memory, identity, and time. Her works depict figures that appear and dissolve within compositions, symbolizing the ephemeral nature of recollection. For Sara, painting is an act of magic—uncovering hidden narratives and providing space for reflection on life’s complexities.
Awards & International Recognition
As part of this inaugural award, all longlisted artists will be showcased in a major exhibition at CICA Vancouver, attracting curators, collectors, and art institutions worldwide. A virtual exhibition will also expand accessibility, allowing a global audience to engage with the works and participate in public voting.
Award winners will receive not only financial support but also future opportunities, including participation in CICA Vancouver’s Residency Program in 2026 and features in upcoming exhibitions.
Distinguished Jury Panel
For the first edition of the awards, winners were selected by a panel of influential curators and arts professionals, including:
- Alex Gartenfeld, Artistic Director, ICA Miami
- Xu Ning, Chief Planner, Culture & Arts Department, Harper’s BAZAAR
- Sho Sho Esquiro, Interdisciplinary Artist & Curator
- Viahsta Yuan, Chief Curator, CICA Vancouver
We congratulate the winners and all participating artists for their outstanding contributions to contemporary art. We look forward to seeing their continued impact on the global art scene.
Stay tuned for upcoming exhibitions and future editions of the CICA Vancouver X Jelina Couture International Art Awards!