Scottish artist Nnena Kalu has won the 2025 Turner Prize, becoming the first learning-disabled person to receive the prestigious award. Her winning work includes suspended sculptures bound with rope and tape, along with swirling vortex drawings, currently on display at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford as part of the UK City of Culture festival. Kalu, who is autistic and has limited verbal communication, was nominated for her contributions to the Conversations exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and for her work Hanging Sculpture 1 to 10 at Manifesta 15 in Barcelona. The jury, chaired by Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson, praised the visual and aesthetic quality of her abstract art, noting its powerful presence and enigmatic expressiveness.
This victory matters because it marks a significant milestone for the recognition of learning-disabled artists in the art world. As Farquharson stated, learning-disabled artists have not been properly recognized, and Kalu's win is part of a broader change toward inclusion. The award also highlights the importance of support systems like ActionSpace, which runs a studio at Studio Voltaire in south London and has worked with Kalu since 1999. The win sends a strong message about the value of diverse artistic voices and the need for the art world to expand its understanding of who can be a major artist.