In the early morning hours, I walked beside a tranquil River Mersey towards Tate Liverpool’s press launch, where there was an exciting buzz as we all anticipated the nominees of the Turner Prize shortlist for 2022. Helen Legg, Director of Tate Liverpool and Co-chair of the Turner Prize jury, announced the list of artists nominated and a description of their practice with an accompanying slideshow of their works. I was excited to know more about the works and to find out who the nominated artists were. At last, the announcement arrived with the camera crew ready and an inquisitive audience. – Alice Lenkiewicz
Tate Liverpool has announced the shortlist for Turner Prize 2022: Heather Phillipson, Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan and Sin Wai Kin. An exhibition of their work will be held at Tate Liverpool from 20 October 2022 to 19 March 2023. The winner will be announced in December at an award ceremony in Liverpool.
HEATHER PHILLIPSON
Nominated for her solo exhibition RUPTURE NO 1: blowtorching the bitten peach at Tate Britain, London and her Fourth Plinth commission, THE END. Phillipson’s wide-ranging practice involves collisions of wildly different materials, media and gestures in what she calls “quantum thought experiments”. The jury described the overwhelming experience of visiting her immersive Tate Britain commission after lockdown and the transformative effect of her Fourth Plinth commission in Trafalgar Square. They particularly applauded the audacious and sophisticated way Phillipson splices absurdity, tragedy and imagination to probe urgent and complex ideas.
INGRID POLLARD
Nominated for her solo exhibition Carbon Slowly Turning at MK Gallery, Milton Keynes. Working primarily in photography, but also in sculpture, film and sound, Pollard’s work questions our relationship with the natural world and interrogates ideas such as Britishness, race and sexuality. The jury commended Pollard’s work which for decades has uncovered stories and histories hidden in plain sight. They were struck by the bold new developments in Pollard’s recent work, especially a new series of kinetic, anthropomorphic sculptures, which build on Pollard’s career-long enquiry into the figure moving through space.
VERONICA RYAN
Nominated for her solo exhibition Along a Spectrum at Spike Island, Bristol and her Hackney Windrush Art Commission in London. Ryan creates sculptural objects and installations using containers, compartments, and combinations of natural and fabricated forms to reference displacement, fragmentation and alienation. The jury praised Ryan’s highly accomplished new body of work made during a residency at Spike Island, which explores ecology, history and dislocation, as well as the psychological impact of the pandemic. The jury was struck by the exquisite sensuality and tactility of her sculptures, both in the gallery and for the public commission in Hackney.
SIN WAI KIN
Nominated for their involvement in the British Art Show 9 and their solo presentation at Blindspot Gallery, Frieze London. Sin brings fantasy to life through storytelling in performance, moving images, writing, and print. Drawing on their own experience existing between binary categories, their work realises fictional narratives to describe lived realities of desire, identification, and consciousness. The jury highlighted their film Dream of Wholeness in Parts 2021 in which traditional Chinese philosophy and dramaturgy intersect with contemporary drag, music and poetry. The jury was impressed by the boundary-pushing nature of Sin’s work, and how they deftly translated the visceral quality of their live performances into film.
2022 marks Turner Prize’s return to Liverpool for the first time in 15 years. Tate Liverpool was the first gallery outside London to host the prize in 2007 when it helped launch the city’s year as the European Capital of Culture.
Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain and Co-chair of the Turner Prize jury, said: “With so many museums and galleries reopening in May 2021, it’s been a terrific 12 months for contemporary British art, as demonstrated by this excitingly rich and varied Turner Prize shortlist. Art has provided much-needed enjoyment and escape over the past year, but it has also helped to reconnect us with each other and the world around us, as the practices of the four shortlisted artists variously exemplify. I congratulate all four artists on their brilliant contributions and can’t wait to see their exhibition at Tate Liverpool.”
Helen Legg, Director of Tate Liverpool and Co-chair of the Turner Prize jury, said: “I’m excited that these four outstanding artists will be showing their work in Liverpool for this year’s Turner Prize in what should be a mesmerising and dynamic exhibition. The jury has travelled the length and breadth of the country, taking advantage of the easing of lockdown to enjoy the explosion of creativity that has emerged from the pandemic. A result is a diverse group of artists, each with a singular vision, who impressed the judges with the intensity of their presentations, while also dealing with important issues facing our society today.”
One of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts, the Turner Prize aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art. Established in 1984, the prize is named after the radical British painter JMW Turner (1775-1851). The Turner Prize winner is awarded £25,000 with £10,000 going to each of the others shortlisted.
The members of the Turner Prize 2022 jury are Irene Aristizábal, Head of Curatorial and Public Practice, BALTIC; Christine Eyene, Research Fellow, School of Arts and Media, UCLan; Robert Leckie, Director, Spike Island; and Anthony Spira, Director, MK Gallery.