Sir Anish Kapoor, the British sculptor, said he has donated the £750,000 he received for winning the Genesis Prize to charities working with refugees worldwide.
The artist, who was awarded the prestigious $1 million prize, dubbed the Jewish Nobel, last year, announced that he will be giving the prize money to five non-governmental organisations, including the International Rescue Committee run by former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband.
In a statement Sir Anish ,who has an Indian father and Iraqi Jewish mother but has lived in London since moving to the UK to study, said: ““Like many Jews, I do not have to go far back in my family history to find people who were refugees.
“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.
