British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, winners of the Genesis prize, known as the “Jewish Nobel prize,” has donated $1 million to five charities working with refugees worldwide.
The famous artist won the prize last year for his commitment to Jewish values, has donated the money to help refugees in a bid to alleviate a record-breaking global displacement crisis.
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Kapoor, who was born to an Indian father and Iraqi Jewish mother said in a statement: “Like many Jews, I do not have to go far back in my family history to find people who were refugees.”
Anish Kapoor, a longtime social activist, added: “Directing Genesis Prize funds to this cause is a way of helping people who, like my forebears not too long before them, are fleeing persecution.”
according to the United Nations (UN) report, at this time the world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record, with more than 65 million people forced to flee their homes, surpassing numbers after the Second World War more than 70 years ago.
“In recent months, awareness of the plight faced by tens of millions of refugees and displaced persons worldwide has fallen significantly while the refugee crisis continues unabated,” said Kapoor, a longtime social activist.
Anish Kapoor lived in Israel before moving to the UK in the 1970s. He won the Turner Prize in 1991 and created a Holocaust memorial for London’s Liberal Jewish Synagogue.
Winners of the Genesis Prize, which is granted by the Israeli government, award $1 million to charities of their choice, with the aim of inspiring the next generation of Jews.
One of Kapoor’s grantees is the International Rescue Committee, which is working with refugees in Uganda – home to more than 1 million people who have fled war in South Sudan – and with stateless Rohingya in Myanmar, Reuters report.
He is also providing food for refugees in Greece and France and medical care for Syrian refugees.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, actor Michael Douglas and actress Natalie Portman are among the previous winners of Genesis prize.
