The AMA Artist Award is a prestigious annual initiative launched by Angus Montgomery Arts and designed to elevate early to mid-career North American artists onto the international stage.

In 2025, Umar Rashid was announced as the inaugural recipient of the AMA Artist Award. The Chicago-born artist was invited to present his work at Tokyo Gendai and India Art Fair, two of Asia’s most influential contemporary art fairs. 

Rashid’s work focuses on a reexamination of European imperialism and touches on subjects such as structural violence and social injustices through a post-colonial perspective. Over more than two decades, he has developed a vast and evolving saga—most notably his Frenglish Empire. For Tokyo Gendai 2026 edition, Rashid presented new works from the series There are other worlds than these (2026), small intimate canvases inspired by traditional miniature paintings, in which he explores the cosmic and terrestrial merging of strange worlds.