British artist Jesse Darling has been awarded the 2023 Turner Prize for his display ‘A familiar yet delirious world’. The £25,000 prize was presented by rapper Tinie Tempah at a ceremony on December 5th at Towner Eastbourne on the south coast.
His sculptures included a faded Union and distorted metal pedestrian barriers, aiming to invoke “societal breakdown…[and] notions of labour, class, Britishness and power”. The four nominees’ works were all linked thematically by political upheaval, specifically in the last decade, but stretching back as far as the 1980s. Darling used his acceptance speech to criticise the current government, the work of Margaret Thatcher (British Prime Minister, 1979-1990) and to highlight the war in Israel and Palestine, pulling out a Palestinian flag and saying later “there’s a genocide going on and I wanted to say something about it on the BBC”.
The Turner prize is one of the world’s most prestigious artistic awards and rewards achievement of an artist born or working in Britain for an outstanding exhibition or presentation of their creative works. Its winner was determined by a five-person jury, chaired by Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson, who praised Oxford-born Darling for his “sense of timeliness with all the work”.
‘A familiar yet delirious world’ is currently on display at Towner Eastbourne. Explore Darling’s exhibition and the other nominees here
