This month, the 2022 Turner Prize arrives at Tate Liverpool, giving visitors the chance to see the work of this year’s nominees completely free of charge.
The exhibition runs from October 20th 2022 until March 19th 2023, so there is plenty of time to get to Liverpool to see the work of these leading visual artists for yourself.
In today’s blog, we’re revealing everything you need to know about this year’s Turner Prize…
The Turner Prize
The highly-prestigious Turner Prize is an annual award presented to a British visual artist. For the purposes of the prize ‘British artist’ is defined as someone either born in Britain and working internationally, or an artist who works primarily in Britain.
Named after English painter, J M W Turner, and first awarded in 1984, past recipients of the prize include Damien Hirst, Lubaina Himid and Grayson Perry.
Each year, the prize is judged by a panel of gallery directors, curators, critics and writers. The winner is awarded a prize of £40,000, with each of the runners-up receiving £5,000.
And the Nominees are…
This year’s shortlist was announced back in April and is the first in history to consist entirely of women and non-binary artists.
Described as ‘four urgent and distinctive voices’ each of the candidates use their art to explore themes of identity, migration, a sense of place and the climate crisis.
Veronica Ryan, Punnet II, 2020
Veronica Ryan is a sculptor and installation artist who was nominated for her solo exhibition, Along a Spectrum, and her Hackney Windrush Artwork Commission, which featured three bronze and marble sculptures of Caribbean fruits. These were the first permanent artworks in the UK to honour the Windrush generation.
The judges praised Ryan for her exploration of the ongoing psychological impact of the pandemic, as well as themes of fragmentation and alienation.
Also on the list is Sin Wai Kin, a boundary-pushing drag performer whose work blends fantasy and reality through storytelling in film, performance, print and writing. They were nominated for their film, A Dream of Wholeness in Parts 2021, which combined contemporary drag with poetry, music and Chinese philosophy.
Photo: Courtesy of Turner Contemporary
Next up is Ingrid Pollard, whose impressive oeuvre uses sculpture, film, collage, photography and sound to explore ‘Britishness’, sexuality, race and humanity’s fraught relationship with the natural world.
It was Pollard’s retrospective, Carbon Slowly Turning, which caught the eyes of the judges. At 69, should Pollard be victorious, she will be the oldest recipient of the Prize in its history.
Photo courtesy of David Levene/ The Guardian
Heather Phillipson defines her art as ‘quantum thought experiments’. She is best known for her sculpture, The End, which featured a swirl of whipped cream with a cherry on top, and adorned Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth in 2020. The sculpture was adorned with drone-like creatures, which captured live footage which could be accessed by the public.
Winner announcement
2022’s Turner Prize winner will be announced in December at an award ceremony in Liverpool.
