[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] The work of artists Jesse Darling, Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim and Barbara Walker will be exhibited at Towner Eastbourne before winner is announced in December. Walker has described her work as social documentary and a commentary on stereotypes about the Caribbean community in the UK. Read full article by Harriet Sherwood at The Guardian.

An artist who reflects on the challenges of the Covid pandemic and another who explores the impact of the Windrush scandal are among four shortlisted for this year’s prestigious Turner prize, with the winner announced in December.

The work of Jesse Darling, Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim and Barbara Walker will be exhibited at the Towner Eastbourne from 28 September before the jury’s final choice.

Alex Farquharson, the director of Tate Britain and the chair of the Turner prize jury, said it was a “fantastic shortlist” for a prize that “offers the public a snapshot of British artistic talent today”.

He added: “These artists each explore the contrasts and contradictions of life, combining conceptual and political concerns with warmth, playfulness, sincerity and tenderness and often celebrating individual identity and community strength.” [. . .]

Walker’s work “interrogates past and present issues of racial identity, exclusion and power”. She was nominated for her presentation Burden of Proof at the Sharjah Biennial 15 in the UAE, which explores the impact of the Windrush scandal.

The jury was impressed with Walker’s use of “portraits of monumental scale to tell stories of a similarly monumental nature, while maintaining a profound tenderness and intimacy”.

Farquharson said: “Part of her practice involves drawing directly on walls, and those drawings that literally take time, immense skill, [are] washed off at the end, in a practice that reflects … how people can be marginalised on account of their identity and injustice.”

The Turner prize, one of the best known prizes for visual arts, aims to promote public debate on new developments in contemporary British art. Last year it was won by Veronica Ryan, who created the UK’s first permanent artwork to honour the Windrush generation and at 66 was the oldest artist yet to be awarded the prize. [. . .]

For full article, see https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/apr/27/turner-prize-pandemic-problems-and-windrush-scandal-among-shortlist

For more on Barbara Walker, see https://www.barbarawalker.co.uk/ and https://artscouncilcollection.org.uk/artwork/boundary-i

Also see https://www.culturetype.com/2023/04/27/barbara-walker-makes-turner-prize-shortlist-recognized-for-series-of-drawings-dedicated-to-windrush-crisis and https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/arts/design/turner-prize-shortlist.html

[Artwork above photographed by Danko Stjepanovic: ‘Interrogates past and present issues of racial identity, exclusion and power’ … Barbara Walker’s “Burden of Proof.”]