#Arts and Culture

Turner Prize: Windrush memorial artist Veronica Ryan wins for 'poetic' sculptures

Dec 9, 2022, 10:51 AM

Ryan was born on Monserrat before moving to the UK as a toddler, and her art uses the fruits, seeds and even volcanic ash from her home island.

Her winning works included the custard apple, breadfruit and soursop sculptures that were unveiled in Hackney in October 2021 in tribute to those who moved from the Caribbean to the UK after 1948.

Her career has been "an incredible struggle" at times, she explained. "There were 20 years, almost, when no-one was paying attention to my work."

But she credited her upbringing in a thrifty family for giving her an attitude that enabled her to make art in lean times with whatever materials she had to hand.

She thanked people "who've looked out for me when I wasn't visible and I was making work from rubbish", adding: "But actually some of the rubbish [works] are some of the most important works, I think."