by Jesse Darling, whose sculptures are made from everyday detritus to reflect the political instability of our time, has won the 2023 Turner prize.
Oxford-born Darling was one of the favorites to take home the £25,000 award. His sculptures featuring elongated union jack bunting and metal pedestrian barriers were shown in two locations: No Medals, No Ribbons at Modern Art Oxford and Enclosure at Camden Art Centre.
The award was presented to Darling by rapper Tinie Tempah, who was praised by the jury for his “use of familiar materials and objects such as concrete, welded barriers, duct tape, office files and stuffed curtains, to create a familiar yet captivating world expressed invoking a societal rupture, its presentation disrupts perceived notions of labour, class, Britishness and power.”
For his winner’s speech, Darling criticized Margaret Thatcher for taking art out of schools because it was not “economically viable”. He said: “She would pave the way for the greatest trick the Tories have ever played, which is to convince working people in Britain that study, self-expression and what broadsheet supplements call ‘culture ‘ but for some people in Britain from a sociolinguistic point of view. – economic backgrounds. I just want to say don’t buy in, it’s for everyone.”
Afterwards, Darling pulled a Palestinian flag from his pocket. When later asked why, the artist said: “Because there is a genocide going on and I wanted to say something about it on the BBC.”
The Turner prize, considered one of the most prestigious awards in the art world, is awarded to an artist born or working in Britain for an outstanding exhibition or presentation of their work in the previous year. This year’s ceremony was held at Towner Eastbourne as part of the foundation’s centenary celebrations. There were four nominees whose work was thematically intertwined with the political upheaval that affected people’s lives in Britain, following seismic events such as Brexit and the Covid-19 Pandemic. They included sculpture, portraiture, video work and large-scale installations and – as usual – the shortlist attracted controversy and ridicule in some quarters.
London-based Ghislaine Leung’s work – a repurposed ventilation system from a Belgian bar – dominated the space it was in, with the giant fans and shafts taking up most of its exhibition space at Towner. It received mixed reviews, with the Guardian’s Adrian Searle saying it contained a “ridiculous kind of ridicour”, while others found the work, which also contained a fountain, particularly obscure. Rory Pilgrim’s work from Bristol also divided critics: one found it “often heartbreaking” and another called it “cold and stilted”.
But there was almost universal praise for the two choices: eventual winner Darling and Barbara Walker.
Related: ‘He finds little joy in our social catastrophe’: Jesse Darling is a worthy Turner Prize winner | Adrian Searle
Walker, 58, from Handsworth, Birmingham, created portraits of Black British people caught up in the Windrush scandal. The Guardian’s Amelia Gentleman interviewed many of the people who appeared, who first broke the story. The judges praised Walker’s work, sometimes created on official forms and documents, as “large-scale portraits to tell such memorable stories”.
The work of Darling, who currently lives in Berlin, greatly impressed the jury. They praised the artist’s ability to manipulate materials “in ways that skillfully express the messy reality of life” and reveal the “fundamental fragility of the world”.
Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson, chairman of the jury, said Darling’s work was a “state of the nation” address that had “a timeliness, dynamism and a boldness that was really engaging with the world … and there’s a lot of humor in it.” work and you feel immersed in their lives.”
Farquharson added that the work resonated with themes of Brexit, nationality, identity, bureaucracy, immigration and austerity. “There is a timeliness to all the work, and in that sense I think it is a very good year. Everyone feels in their own way right now.”
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Since its inception in 1984, the annual award has become notorious for its divisive nature, with critics often mocking entries that sit outside traditional practices such as painting or sculpture. In the last few years the Turner seems to have found its feet again, after a period of uncertainty when there was no definite winner in 2019 (the nominees split the prize), and the prize was canceled during the Covid pandemic -19 i. 2020.
Last year’s winner, Veronica Ryan, was widely praised for her sculpture, which sat outside Hackney town hall and, like Walker’s work, referenced the Windrush Generation of Caribbean immigrants who made Britain home in the post-war period.
The 2023 Turner prize jury consisted of Farcharson along with: Martin Clark, director of Camden Art Centre; Cédric Fauq, chief curator of Capc musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux; Melanie Keen, director of the Wellcome Collection; and Helen Nisbet, artistic director of Art Night.
Darling says he already has plans for how he intends to spend the prize money: “I’ll put a new tooth in, pay my rent and buy my friends a drink.”
