This spring, Tate Britain announced the four artists shortlisted for the 2023 Turner Prize, the UK’s most prestigious contemporary art prize.
Accompanied by a exhibition of their work at Towner Eastbourne, a museum on the southeast coast of England, the shortlisted artists will all receive a cash prize: £25,000 ($31,000) for the overall winner and £10,000 ($12,000) each for other artists. The winner will be announced on December 5, at an awards ceremony in the Eastbourne Winter Gardens.
The shortlisted artists were chosen by an expert jury, which included Martin Clark, director of the Camden Art Centre; Cédric Fauq, chief curator of the Capc museum of contemporary art in Bordeaux; Melanie Keen, Director of Wellcome Collection; and Helen Nisbet, Artistic Director of Art Night, chaired by Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain. Here’s what to expect from each performer in the show, before it opens on September 24.
jesse darling
Jesse Darling, ‘No Medals No Ribbons’, installation view at Modern Art Oxford, 2022. Photo: Ben Westaby. © Oxford Modern Art.
Age: 41
Nominated for: Solo exhibitions “No Medals, No Ribbons” at Modern Art Oxford and “Enclosures” at Camden Art Center
What the jury said: Darling’s manipulation of materials “in a way that skillfully expresses the messy reality of life”, was particularly highlighted by the jurors, who felt that Darling’s work exposed the “underlying fragility” of the world .
In their own words: In writing in an Instagram post last year about the show that nominated him, Darling said: ‘I’m putting on an exhibition of the last 10 years of my work, and it’s happening in my hometown in a ferris wheel atmosphere endlessly. The Venice Biennale was a classy gig but not as wild as seeing my flyer in the local chippy. But why am I conflicted and haunted by many ghosts, is it wartime or retrospective? Thinking of all the people who made me who I am for good and for bad, and damn it, I’m still alive even if “half career” means half embalmed in the zombie art circus. And I still have work to do in this goddamn world.
Barbara Walker
Barbara Walker, “Burden of Proof” (2022), installation view: Sharjah Biennial 15, Old Diwan Al Amiri, 2023. Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation with support from The Whitworth, The University of Manchester. Photo: Danko Stjepanovic.
Age: 58
Nominated for: “Burden of Proof” at the Sharjah Biennale 15.
What the jury said: Jurors praised Walker for his use of portraits on a “monumental scale” to tell stories of a “similarly monumental nature”, particularly highlighting one work, a mural installation drawn at the Sharjah Biennale.
In their own words: Walker spoke last year about the show that nominated her in a published video by the Sharjah Art Foundation.
“I have developed a series of drawings that reflect individuals and families living histories that have been affected by the Windrush scandal,” Walker said, referring to the political scandal that began in 2018, when mostly British citizens d of Caribbean origin were arrested. , deprived of his legal rights and threatened with deportation. “Some even lost their homes and income and were classified as illegal immigrants,” Walker explained.
In Sharjah, Walker presented eight framed portraits of individuals swept away by the Home Ministry’s “hostile environment” policies, which led to the scandal, the backgrounds reproducing documents presented by the government as evidence that these citizens were wrongly classified as illegal immigrants. . “There is no plan. The work happens as it develops,” Walker said of the series. “What concerned me was the creation of wall portraits of three of the survivors.”
Rory Pilgrim
Rory Pilgrim, RAFTS (2022), HD video photo (l:06:55). Courtesy andriesse~eyck gallery.
Age: 35
Nominated for: the Commission RAFTS at the Serpentine and Barking Town Hall, and a live performance of the work at Cadogan Hall in London
What the jury said: The jurors called the project “an outstanding example of social practice” in art and called Pilgrim’s musical arrangements “beautiful and moving”.
In their own words“Making connections between work, mental health, home, recovery and our surroundings, additional voices from people near and far join the choir, including members of Barking and Dagenham Youth Dance and Project Well Being : a group for homeless people in Boise, Idaho,” Walker wrote of the show that nominated them in a Instagram post Last year.
Ghislaine Leung
Ghislaine Leung, “Fountains”, installation view at Simian, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Simian, Copenhagen; and Maxwell Graham, New York; and Cabinet, London. Photo: GREYSC
Age: 42
Nominated for: his personal exhibition “Fountains” at the Simian in Copenhagen
What the jury said: The jury found that Leung’s work radiated “warm, humorous and transcendental qualities” that challenged “the way art is produced and disseminated”, establishing the gallery as a co-performer for his work “based on the score “.
In their own words“The term ‘shed light’ is often used in the context of explanatory texts. I’ve tried to take dozens of photos of a weird thing inside my mouth using my phone’s flash, or sometimes a combination of torch and flash, both awkwardly positioned in one hand. See some small fleshy nodule or bitten mouth. And photos are inevitably over or underexposed or out of focus or at the wrong angle,” Leung said of his work, in the publication YYYYMMDD. “Enlightenment may not be the same as more light, it’s often something that happens in and because of darkness.”
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