Hawzah News Agency – A renowned UK based Khoja artist, Siddiqa Juma, has been awarded for her “NFT Creation” by the World Art Dubai awards at their 2022 event.

About the Artist – Siddiqa Juma

Siddiqa Juma is a UK based multi-award-winning and critically acclaimed contemporary Islamic artist. Originally a resident of Dar-es-Salaam, she moved to the UK with her family when she was 13 and joined Arts School to pursue a diploma in Graphics Designing.

Siddiqa has been painting professionally for the past 10 years. She has made serious waves in a short period of time, often referred to as “The Kaaba Artist.” Although she has spent the majority of her professional career focusing on the Holy Kaaba, her work also explores the importance of humanity, centrality and anchoring to the whole of mankind – Muslim or not. She is considered to have created the largest volume of work featuring the Holy Kaaba than any other professional artist in the world. Her works are owned by global Royal families, eminent politicians, and hang in some of the most recognisable establishments in the UK and abroad.

Her Achievements

Siddiqa is also a co-founder of IslamicArtPrints.com, a website that features photography, traditional Islamic geometry, calligraphy, and contemporary styles – a whole world of Islamic art, from over 40 independent artists from every corner of the globe, available for customers worldwide.

Her achievements include multiple awards like, 2015 People’s Art Prize for “Make Your Mark”, London; 2017 Muslim Lifestyle Show Award for Best Islamic Artist, London; 2017 Global Art Award, Best Painting for “Diversity”, Dubai; 2018 Leonardo Da Vinci Universal Artist Award, Italy; 2018 Al-Najm Award for services to Islamic Arts & Publishing, London; 2019 Muslim News Alhambra Award for Excellence in the Arts; and the latest, 2022 World Art Dubai, Dubai.

World Art Dubai Awards

The World Art Dubai is the largest contemporary art fair in the UAE region. The awards aim to support the creative industry across the region by advocating established and emerging artists, photographers and the next-gen of artists from eight schools.

The 8th edition of the event was held from 16-19 March 2022 at Dubai World Trade Centre, hosting more than 4000 artwork pieces from 300+ renowned galleries and solo artists hailing from 50+ countries. A new feature made its debut this year in the form of digital art. An entire section was dedicated to digital art and the zone, named WAD Next, exhibited NFT artworks by artists and galleries from different countries. The artworks were each accompanied by a QR code, directing visitors to an online marketplace.

Siddiqa was a part of the NFT under the Morrow Collective. “To win the very first NFT Award at World Art Dubai with my very first NFT creation is a truly humbling experience. I can’t wait to keep creating in this new and exciting space and see what happens next…” she wrote on her Instagram post on winning the award.

What is an NFT?

“Non-fungible token (NFT)” represents ownership of unique items. These items can only have one owner at a time, and that ownership is protected by a secure digital platform which means that no one can modify the record of ownership. An NFT can be used to represent real-world items like artwork or real estate. “Tokenising” these real-world items allows them to be sold, bought and traded while reducing the probability of fraud.