Heather Phillipson accompanies Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan and Sin Wai Kin on this year’s shortlist for the award, as she returns to Liverpool for the first time in 15 years. Artists vying for the world’s most prestigious visual arts awards use different means and forms of expression to help people reconnect with themselves and the world around them as societies emerge from the pandemic. Phillipson was nominated for her solo exhibition RUPTURE NO 1: blowburching the bitten peach at Tate Britain and her fourth order at Trafalgar Square, THE END. Her practice involves conflicts of different materials, media, and gestures in what she calls “quantum thought experiments.” The jury described the overwhelming experience of visiting Phillipson’s fascinating Tate exhibition after the lockdown “and applauded the way it combines irrationality, tragedy and imagination to explore urgent and complex ideas”. Pollard was nominated for her solo exhibition Carbon Slowly Turning at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes. Working mainly in photography, but also in sculpture, film and sound, her work challenges our relationship with the natural world and interrogates ideas such as Britishness, race and sexuality. Ingrid Pollard’s coal spinning slowly. Photo: Rob Harris Tate said Pollard’s work had for decades revealed stories and stories hidden from public view. “[The jury] “They were impressed by the bold new developments in Pollard’s recent work, especially a new series of kinetic, anthropomorphic sculptures, which are based on Pollard’s long research into the space-moving figure.” Nominated for her solo exhibition Along a Spectrum on Spike Island in Bristol and her art committee Hackney Windrush in London, Ryan creates sculptures and installations using containers, compartments and combinations of natural and textured forms to refer to displacement, fragmentation and alienation. Windrush sculptures by Veronica Ryan. Photo: Martin Godwin / The Guardian The jury praised her new work done during a stay on Spike Island, which explores the ecology, history and dislocation, as well as the psychological impact of the pandemic. They were impressed by the “extraordinary sensuality and touch of her sculptures, both in the gallery and for the public order in Hackney,” Tate said. Sin was nominated for their participation in British Art Show 9 and their solo presentation at the Blindspot Gallery at the Frieze London art exhibition. Stories are told through representations, animation, writing and printing. Based on their own experience between binary categories, “their work implements imaginary narratives to describe experienced realities of desire, identification and consciousness,” Tate said. The jury highlighted the film Sin Dream of Wholeness in Parts 2021, in which traditional Chinese philosophy and drama intersect with contemporary attraction, music and poetry. Sin Wai Kin’s A Dream of Holeness in Parts. Photo: Courtesy of the artist, Chi-Wen Gallery, Taipei and Soft Opening, London The Turner Prize aims to spark a public debate around new developments in contemporary British art. It was founded in 1984 and was named after the radical British painter JMW Turner (1775-1851). Each year, a winner is awarded £ 25,000 to £ 10,000 to each of the other selected artists. Tate Liverpool was the first non-London gallery to host the award in 2007 when it helped launch the city’s year as European Capital of Culture. Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and co-chair of the Turner Prize jury, said: rich and varied list of Turner Awards. “Art provided the necessary enjoyment and escape over the past year, but it also helped to reconnect us and the world around us, as the practices of the four selected artists are examples.” Helen Legg, director of the Tate Liverpool and co-chair of the Turner Prize jury, said: . The result is a diverse group of artists, each with a unique vision, who impressed the judges with the intensity of the presentations, while at the same time dealing with important issues facing our society today. Last year’s award was won by Array Collective, a group of 11 artists from across the religious divide in Northern Ireland. Four other art collectives won, the first time no single artist had qualified for the award. This year’s winner will be announced at a ceremony in December and an exhibition of their work will be held at Tate Liverpool from October 20, 2022 to March 19, 2023.
