Nnena Kalu
Nnena Kalu | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1966 (age 58–59)[1] |
| Occupation | Artist |
| Years active | 1980s–present |
Nnena Kalu (born 1966)[1] is a British artist. She is known for her sculptures and drawings, for which she won the 2025 Turner Prize.[3][2]
Early life
[edit]Kalu was born in Glasgow to Nigerian parents in 1966, and moved to Wandsworth in London at a young age.[4] She is autistic and has limited verbal communication.[5]
She began making art in the 1980s[2] at Hill House day centre in Tooting, in south London.[3]
Work
[edit]Kalu began making sculptures around 2010, after making flat artworks for years. She begins with a bundle of paper, cloth, or another base structure, and then elaborates it - often compulsively - by wrapping, layering, and binding materials such as ropes, strips of fabric, unspooled VHS cassette tape, netting and rubbish.[6][7] Her sculptures are usually made of found materials.[8] In 2013, she began making distinctive drawings which have been compared to whirlpools, usually completed in pairs or trios,[6] sometimes fours or sixes, but not alone. Kalu creates the drawings together, often with her eyes closed.[9]
Critics have focused on the physicality of her work, comparing her sculptures to bodies[10] and "disembowelled organs".[7]
Career
[edit]In 1999, Kalu began working as an artist at ActionSpace in Clapham, an organization which assists artists with learning disabilities.[11]
In 2016, her works were shown in Belgium alongside artists such as Laure Prouvost, who won the Turner Prize in 2013;[3] at the 2018 Glasgow International;[12] Humber Street Gallery;[12][13] and at Studio Voltaire.[14] Her first commercial show was in 2024, at Arcadia Missa in London. The gallery is her official representative.[6]
Creations of Care,[9] Kalu's first major institutional show, was held in 2025 at the Kunsthall Stavanger in Norway.[3] Later in 2025, she won the Turner Prize, the most prominent British art award.[11] The jury nominated her for her work in Conversations at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, and Hanging Sculpture 1 to 10 at Manifesta 15 in Barcelona.[15] The BBC described her winning works as drawings of tornado-like swirls, and brightly coloured sculptures that are wrapped haphazardly with layers of materials such as ribbon, string, card and VHS tape.[11]
She was the first artist with a learning disability to win the prize,[11] and her facilitator and studio manager, Charlotte Hollinshead, made a speech on her behalf, in which she said that Kalu "has faced an incredible amount of discrimination" and hoped that award would help "smash the prejudice away."[3]
Kalu's works have been included as part of the Arts Council Collection[16] and the collection of The Tate.[17]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Lawson-Tancred, Jo (9 December 2025). "Nnena Kalu Snags the U.K.'s Prestigious Turner Prize". artnet. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
- ^ a b c Marshall, Alex (9 December 2025). "With Colorful Sculptures, Artist With a Learning Disability Wins the Turner Prize". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Bakare, Lanre (9 December 2025). "Nnena Kalu becomes first artist with a learning disability to win Turner prize". Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ Frankel, Eddy (19 May 2025). "'Her need to make is off the scale': why Nnena Kalu's Turner prize nomination is a watershed moment for art". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
- ^ "Nnena Kalu is first artist with a learning disability to win the prestigious Turner Prize". AP News. 10 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ a b c Holland, Oscar (9 December 2025). "Nnena Kalu 'makes history' by winning Turner Prize 2025". Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ a b Frankel, Eddy (2 May 2024). "Review: Nnena Kalu". Time Out.
- ^ Lawson-Tancred, Jo (24 September 2025). "A Look at the 2025 Turner Prize Show—and the Artists Vying for the U.K.'s Top Art Award". Artnet. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
- ^ a b Statz, Maike (24 April 2025). "Nnena Kalu: Creations of Care". Contemporary Art Stavanger. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ Searle, Adrian (9 December 2025). "Nnena Kalu's embodied, sensuous art makes her a worthy Turner prize winner". Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ a b c d Youngs, Ian (9 December 2025). "Artist Nnena Kalu earns 'historic' Turner Prize win". BBC News. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
- ^ a b "Nnena Kalu — ActionSpace Artists". ActionSpace. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ "Turner Prize 2013: Laure Prouvost wins £25,000 prize". BBC. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ Fleck, Ella (30 March 2020). "Nnena Kalu". Frieze.
- ^ "Turner Prize 2025 shortlist announced". Tate. 23 April 2025. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
- ^ "The Arts Council Collection Acquires Work by Nnena Kalu". ActionSpace. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ "Nnena Kalu born 1966 | Tate". Tate. Retrieved 10 December 2025.