Turner Prize 2022 show features diversity

Tate Liverpool is showing works of the four artists who were shortlisted for the Turner Prize: Heather Phillipson, Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan and Sin Wai Kin.

The prestigious art award promotes new voices in contemporary art in England.

Here's more on the four artists and the works on show from October 20, 2022 to March 19, 2023:

Heather Phillipson

Born in London in 1976 and socialized in the 1990s British rave scene, Heather Phillipson presents "Rupture No 6: biting the blowtorched peach."

In this new version of her 2020 commission for Tate Britain, she evokes what she calls an "ill-adapted ecosystem, an immersive atmosphere."

Her installation at Tate Liverpool combines colors, videos, sculptures and new audio compositions that evoke a parallel universe. She describes the collision of different materials and media as "quantum thought experiments."

Ingrid Pollard

Ingrid Pollard was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1953. She works as a photographer and is closely associated with the British photo agency Autograph, the Association of Black Photographers.

In her work, Pollard explores social constructs such as national identity, sexuality and racism through portrait and landscape photography, while also using sculpture, film and music.

For the Turner Prize exhibition, she presents "Seventeen of Sixty-Eight," for which she spent decades investigating depictions of "Africans" on pub signs, everyday objects and in literature.

"Bow Down and Very Low — 123" includes three kinetic sculptures and everyday items that reflect society's power dynamics, while the photo series "Deny: Imagine: Attack" (1991) and "Silence"  (2019) explore the language of power.

Veronica Ryan

Born in Montserrat in the Caribbean in 1956 and raised in London, Veronica Ryan is a well-known British sculptor living between New York and Bristol.

She uses a wide variety of materials — from clay to bronze to feathers and fishing nets — to depict displacement, fragmentation and alienation.

With titles such as "Multiple Conversations" or "Along a Spectrum," her works offer different layers of meaning and interpretation.

During a stay on the former Irish prison island of Spike Island, she created sculptures based on real objects such as fruits, food containers, feathers and paper and then designed them in order to show the ecological and historical context of migration and the psychological consequences of the COVID pandemic.

Sin Wai Kin

Born in Canada in 1991, Sin Wai Kin is the first nonbinary person to be nominated for the Turner Prize. The artist brings fantasy to life through films and drag performances influenced by figures ranging from Jessica Rabbit to Marilyn Monroe.

Sin's work challenges traditional notions of gender in spaces traditionally occupied by white, male and straight perspectives. The artist aims to "interrupt normative processes around issues of desire, identification and objectification," according to the Tate website.

The shortlisted artist is presenting three films for the Turner Prize, including "A Dream of Wholeness in Parts," in which traditional Chinese philosophy and dramaturgy meet contemporary drag, music and poetry.

In "It's Always You," Sin takes on the role of four boy band members, and in the work "Today's Top Stories," the artist portrays a news anchor who delivers existential monologues on consciousness, naming and identity.

Award ceremony in December

"I'm excited to be unveiling work by these four outstanding artists at Tate Liverpool for this year's Turner Prize. 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," Helen Legg, director of Tate Liverpool and co-chair of the Turner Prize 2022 jury, said in a statement.

The winner of the 2022 Turner Prize will be announced on December 7 at St. George's Hall in Liverpool.

The prize has been awarded annually since its creation in 1984 and is given to a British or UK-based artist for a special exhibition or other outstanding presentation of their work. It is endowed with 55,000 British pounds. The winner receives 25,000 British pounds (about €28,600/$28,000), while the other finalists get 10,000 pounds each.

 

This article was originally written in German.