JEDDAH: The director general of the Paris-based Institut de Monde Arabe (IMA or Arab World Institute), Mona Khazindar, has been elected “Woman of the Year”. The choice was made on Feb. 4 by the Forum of Arab Women but only announced on Tuesday. The forum which met in Beirut had selected “Women and the Arab Spring” as the theme this year on which to decide who the prize should be given to in 2012.
Khazindar, who became the first woman and the first Saudi to head the internationally-renowned institute when she was appointed last April, was one of a dozen women considered for the award. All have distinguished themselves in the fields of art, politics, economics and management. Among them were the Yemeni journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakul Karman, the Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and to Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki.
In her acceptance speech, Mona Khazindar noted that as a mother, she knew that women are “the source of any real revolution, because of the importance she has on the education of children” and that therefore, “the woman had to take a central role in the evolution of society.”
From a prominent Jeddah family, Khazindar was born in the US in 1959 where her father was studying at the time. She herself studied comparative literature at the American University of Paris and then modern history at the Sorbonne. A specialist in contemporary plastic art, she has been with the IMA since 1986. Before becoming director general, she was curator of contemporary art and photography, with responsibility for the IMA’s permanent art collection. She had also organized a considerable number of exhibitions at the institute.
Her award is also seen as strong endorsement of the work done by the IMA and its influence on the international cultural scene.
