British artist Jesse Darling on Tuesday won the British Turner Prize, one of the most important prizes for visual arts. The jury called Darling’s socially critical work, who drew inspiration from Brexit, the corona pandemic and British immigration policy, among other things, “brutal and engaging”. Darling, who was already one of the favorites among critics, has been criticizing modern British life through his work for some time.
Darling’s winning work consists of installations including distorted crowd barriers, train tracks, barbed wire and discolored flags that resemble the British flag. At first he seems to have scattered these objects haphazardly throughout the room, but the audience can only walk through them in one way. The Oxford-born but Berlin-based artist previously said he wants the installations to reflect the “hostile British climate” towards immigration.
In addition to Darling, Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim and Barbara Walker were nominated. The artists all owed this nomination to their political and conceptual artworks. Darling wins the equivalent of almost 30,000 euros. The three other artists receive more than 11,000 euros.
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