Nnena Kalu Becomes First Learning-Disabled Artist to Win Turner Prize

Nnena Kalu Becomes First Learning-Disabled Artist to Win Turner Prize

Glasgow-born Nigerian artistNnena Kaluhas been named the winner of the 2025Turner Prize. Considered the UK’s most prestigious award in the field of the visual arts, the prize comes with a £25,000 purse (about $33,000). Kalu, who is autistic and largely unable to communicate verbally, is known for colorful large-scale swirling abstract drawings and for hanging, cocoonlike sculptures made from materials including repurposed fabrics and VHS tapes. She is the first artist with a learning disability to receive the prize.

Born in 1966, Kalu began making art in the 1980s. Since 1999, she has created her works at ActionSpace, a London-based nonprofit that helps disabled people make art. She was chosen by a jury comprising Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson, who served as chair; independent curator Andrew Bonacina; Sam Lackey, director of the Liverpool Biennial; Priyesh Mistry, associate curator of modern and contemporary projects at London’s National Gallery; and Habda Rashid, senior curator of modern and contemporary art at the Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge, England.

“The jury commended Kalu’s bold and compelling work, praising her lively translation of expressive gesture into captivating abstract sculpture and drawing,” said Tate, the London-based museum group that administers the prize, in a statement. “Noting her distinct practice and finesse of scale, composition and color, they admired the powerful presence these works have.”

Kalu was presented with the award at a ceremony that took place at Tate Britain on the evening of December 9. The other members of this year’s Turner shortlist—Rene Matić, Mohammed Sami, and Zadie Xa—will each receive £10,000 ($13,000). An exhibition of the work of all four artists is currently on view at the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford, England, and runs through February 22, 2026.