Turner Prize 2017 winner: Lubaina Himid wins prestigious award

Lubaina Himid has been crowned this year’s Turner Prize winner, beating Rosalind Nashashibi, Hurvin Anderson, and Andrea Buttner to take home the £25,000 prize money.

The African artist, currently Professor of Contemporary Art at the University of Central Lancashire, is best known for her paintings, drawings, printmaking, and installations that centre on black identity, her works making reference to the African diaspora and the slave industry.

At 62-years-old, Himid becomes the oldest person to ever win the Turner Prize, 2017 being the first year since the introduction of a rule change allowing artists over the age of 50 to compete.

Judges from Tate Britain praised her various projects — including the solo exhibitions Lubaina Himid: Invisible Strategies and Navigation Charts — for raising “questions of personal and political identity”.

The awards ceremony took place at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, Yorkshire, marking the city’s status as the UK’s current capital of culture.

British musician Goldie presented the award, praising the political views expressed by all the shortlisted contestants' work: “It’s good that the artists are digging deep… challenging people’s perceptions.”

open image in gallery

Accepting her prize, Himid began by thanking the people of Hull, saying: “First of all to the people who stopped me to wish well... It worked.” She then thanked the various assistants, curators, and friends who helped her throughout her career, finishing with a few words about her mother.

“Thanks to my mother who let me do what I wanted as a teenager if I was home by 10,” she told the audience.

open image in gallery

Himid faced stiff competition from Anderson, 52, best known for work that explores ideas of identity, as inspired by his Jamaican immigrant parents, often in depictions of Afro-Caribbean barbershops.

Nashashibi, 43, had two films on show in Hull. While best known as a filmmaker, she’s also known as painter, her most popular piece being 2015’s 'Electrical Gaza’. Rounding off the shortlisted contestants comes Buttner, 45, who works across a range of mediums including painting and woodcuts, often dealing with themes of religion and botany. Each runner-up receives £5,000.

Speaking about the age limit being increased before the winner was announced Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and chairman of the jury, said: "The Turner Prize has always championed emerging artists — it has never been a prize for long service but for a memorable presentation of work in that year.

"Now that its reputation is so firmly established, we want to acknowledge the fact that artists can experience a breakthrough in their work at any age.”

Established in 1984 by the Patrons of New Art, the Turner Prize aims to promote new developments in contemporary British art. The award goes to an artist for an outstanding exhibition within the 12 months preceding the award deadline; this year’s was 24 April 2017.

Former winners of the Turner Prize include Richard Deacon, Damien Hirst, and Howard Hodgkin. The Ferens Art Gallery will continue to host the shortlisted work until the 7 January, 2018.