2022 Turner Prize goes to Veronica Ryan

The tension was almost palpable at Liverpool’s venerable St. George’s Hall on Wednesday (07.12.2022), where the winner of the Turner Prize was announced. Veronica Ryan was recognized with the prestigious award, which comes with prize money of £25,000 (€ 29,000, or $30,400).

“Power, visibility. Thank you so much,” she beamed as she took the podium. She thanked those “who’ve looked out for me when I wasn’t visible and I was making work from rubbish.”

The artist also told the audience she hadn’t prepared for the award “because it’s so scary and I’ve been around for so long” — and mentioned she was wearing her dad’s hat, adding he would have been so proud of her.

Along with Ryan, Heather Phillipson, Ingrid Pollard and Sin Wai Kin were also among the nominees for the Turner Prize; the shortlist was unveiled in April. Their works have been on display at Tate Liverpool since October and will stay there until mid-March 2023. Shortlisted artists each took home £10,000.

“This is a diverse group of artists, each with a singular vision, who are all dealing with important issues facing our society today and together their work combines to create a fascinating and vibrant exhibition,” said Tate Liverpool director Helen Legg, co-chair of the Turner Prize 2022 jury, in a statement.

Sculptor with a focus on social issues

Born in 1956 on Montserrat in the Caribbean, Veronica Ryan grew up in London, and today commutes back and forth between New York and Bristol. Ryan made a name for herself as a sculptor. She uses a wide variety of materials for her works, from clay and bronze to feathers and fishing nets.

She is focused on key social issues, including displacement and alienation. Her work is always open to different interpretations, as is evident in titles like “Multiple Conversations” and “Along a Spectrum.” During a residency on Spike Island, once a Irish prison island, she first created recognizable forms like fruit, food containers, feathers and paper and then redesigned them to depict ecological and historical contexts of migration and the psychological consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

Contemporary art award

The Turner Prize is named after William Turner (1775-1851). The important English landscape painter wanted to create a prize for young artists during his lifetime, but the project failed and it was not until 1984 that the prize was established. Ever since, with one exception in 1990, it has been awarded annually to British artists for a special exhibition or other outstanding presentation of their work.

In the early years, up to six artists were nominated, but today only four are shortlisted. The Turner Prize is organized annually by the Tate Gallery in London. The artists’ works are on display in an exhibition for the months before the prize is awarded to promote public debate about recent developments in contemporary art in the country.

The Turner Prize is as controversial as it is prestigious. Time and again, there have been debates about the significance of art prizes. In 2019, the nominees decided to split the prize money in order to undermine the idea of competition with a gesture of solidarity.

In 2020, the award was canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic; that year, the jury awarded scholarships instead. Last year, only collectives were nominated.

The Array Collective from Northern Ireland won for its knack to convey serious topics in a humorous manner.

Previous winners include Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley, Rachel Whiteread, Damien Hirst, and German artist Wolfgang Tillmans — who is now based in the UK.