Categories: Views

Turner Prize Winner: A historic moment

Artist Nnena Kalu has been announced as the winner of this years Turner Prize, the UK’s most prestigious art award.

Her sculptures and drawings, featuring intricate tornado-like shapes and bright colours, earned her the Prize’s recognition, making history as the first artist with a learning disability to be awarded first place. 

Kalu is a 52 year old artist, who is autistic and learning disabled with limited verbal communication. Charlotte Hollinshead, Kalu’s studio manager and artistic facilitator who has worked with her for the past 25 years, said: “This is a major, major moment for a lot of people. It’s seismic. It’s broken a very stubborn glass ceiling” whilst on stage at the ceremony.

Receiving the award at the ceremony in Bradford, the UK’s current city of culture, Nnena Kalu also received the £25,000 prize money – a well-deserved recognition of what Hollinshead described as a long and arduous journey. Glasgow-born, and now London-based, it took Nnena Kalu a long time to break into the world of art, despite being a resident artist with Action Space since 1999. 

Over the years her work gradually started to gain popularity, and this award is the ultimate prize for a long career of hard work. It also signifies how the art world is starting to evolve, finally ready to accept artists in all their glory – artists that were previously shunned. 

News article by The View.

The View Magazine

Recent Posts

URGENT & IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED: Imminent Threat to Life, FireSafety Failures, and Toxic Exposure at HMP Eastwood Park

SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK — February 20, 2026 — The Feminist Justice Coalition (FJC) has today issued…

12 hours ago

Female artists speak out following release of Epstein-related documents

A renewed wave of scrutiny has emerged across the entertainment industry following the release of…

7 days ago

Women in Prison With Cancer Are Missing From the New 10‑Year Cancer Plan — Again

The government has finally released its long‑awaited 10‑year cancer plan, a document that promises to…

3 weeks ago

Hannah More: Bristol’s Abolitionist Voice Against Slavery

Hannah More (1745–1833) was one of the most influential abolitionists and reformers of her time,…

3 weeks ago

Lucy Letby Case Referred to the CCRC

The case of Lucy Letby, the former neonatal nurse convicted in one of the most…

3 weeks ago

When Will the Judiciary Confront Violence Against Women?

The murder of Lucy Ann Rushton in Andover in June 2019 was a brutal reminder…

3 weeks ago

This website uses cookies.