Artist who was commissioned by Hackney Council to create first public artwork to honour the Windrush generation in the UK won the 2022 Turner Prize.

Veronica Ryan OBE, 66-years-old British sculptor born in Montserrat, won one of the world’s most high-profile awards for visual art and received the prize of £25,000 in a ceremony at St. George’s Hall in Liverpool.

Philip Glanville, the Mayor of Hackney said: “It is also a huge honour for Hackney who commissioned the Windrush work. We are very proud to home Veronica Ryan OBE’s sculptures in Hackney, which became the first permanent public artwork to honour the Windrush Generations.” 

“The awarding of the Turner Prize will consolidate the artwork’s status as a historic landmark of local and national significance. It will serve as a permanent visual reminder of the legacy of Hackney’s Windrush community to life in the borough.”

The Turner Prize jury recognised the “personal and poetic way she extends the language of sculpture” and the “noticeable shift in her use of space, colour and scale both in gallery and civic spaces”, for work including the sculptural installation on Narrow Way, in Hackney Central. 

More about the Turner Prize The Turner Prize is awarded every year to a British artist, “for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the preceding year as determined by a jury.”

This year’s prize was awarded on December 7 in Liverpool, by musician Holly Johnson. The other 4 shortlisted artists for the price each received £10,000, and “all have pushed the boundaries of material exploration through unravelling the complexities of body, nature and identity,” the jury said.

Co-Chair of the jury and director of Tate Britain Alex Farquharson said that Ryan’s is “slow-burn work,” and that “what becomes evident is this elusive treatment of themes of survival, care and she’s even used the word trauma. The valuing of things, the remembering of things. It’s about nature and lived experience.”

Her winning sculptural installation in Hackney features a custard apple, breadfruit, and soursop, typical fruits from the Caribbean. The bronze and marble fruits were inspired by her childhood memories of Ridley Road Market.

Ryan’s Windrush artwork, along with Thomas J. Price’s “Warm Shores”, were commissioned in 2020 by the Hackney Council. 

The two artworks were commissioned in an effort to “serve as a permanent expression of solidarity with the Windrush Generation, a recognition of the hugely significant contribution they have made to life in Hackney and the UK, and will symbolise the ongoing commitment from the borough to provide refuge and welcome to worldwide migrants,” a spokesperson for Hackney Council said.

Ryan’s win is all the more meaningful for the Hackney Council, who has been “very supportive of the Windrush Generation and the advocacy against the hostile environment”, Oladapo Awosokanre, executive director of the African Development and Advocacy Centre told Eastlondonlines.

Awosokanre added that the Council’s support “was further demonstrated with the 2020 anti-racism motion outlining the steps it will take to tackle racism,” although “AFRIDAC feels there is still much to be done to remedy the years of discrimination and racism.”

“The African Caribbean heritage communities are very proud of Veronica as the Turner Prize acknowledges her artistic contribution to our past, present and future as a people,” Awosokanre said. 

As an organisation that works towards empowering the Afro-Caribbean community across the UK, AFRIDAC told Eastlondonlines: “Veronica Ryan has always stayed connected to her roots as a Black person and this is showcased with her sculptures, especially the ones in [Hackney].”

Hackney Windrush lead Councillor Carole Williams said: “Veronica’s sculptures are a proud symbol of the commitment the Council made to the Windrush Generation and those directly affected by the Windrush Scandal, along with their descendants. (…) It will remain a symbol of honour and respect to Hackney’s Windrush community for generations to come.”

Eight per cent of Hackney’s population is of Afro-Caribbean ethnic backgrounds (compared to Four per cent in London) and according to the Council, the borough is “home to hundreds, if not thousands, of the Windrush generation and Commonwealth countries across the globe.”

In 2018, Hackney became the first council in the UK to pass a motion regarding the Windrush Generation. Proposed by Williams, the motion aimed at opposing “the criminalisation of Windrush families, celebrate annual Windrush Day and press central Government for a public enquiry into the recent scandal.”

Hackney Council’s past initiatives for the Windrush Generation In the past years, Hackney Council also carried out several initiatives to show solidarity with the Windrush generation. They invested money to help the Hackney Caribbean Elderly Organisation (HCEO) renew their headquarters, and opened a public space named after “often forgotten” African Caribbean music charity BRAFA.

At the time of the opening in 2021, Mayor Glanville said: “By uncovering and celebrating the story of BRAFA in the heart of Shoreditch, we’re demonstrating and firmly acknowledging yet another valuable contribution from Hackney’s African and Caribbean community.”

Hackney has also been home to the Windrush Generations Festival, held on National Windrush Day since 2020, during which residents celebrate the contributions of Hackney’s Windrush generation through many events and activities. Season 3 of the podcast ‘Windrush Stories’, which is a collection of encounters with people from the Windrush Generation, is also entirely dedicated to Hackney‘s Windrush legacy.