Internationally recognised art and literary critic, writer and cultural producer. Published in ELLE, Glamour, Esquire and Cosmopolitan; member of the Union of Writers.
Jesse Darling, a Berlin-based artist who works with installation, drawing, poetry, and sculpture, has made history by winning the 2024 Turner Prize, one of the most prestigious awards for contemporary art in the UK. Darling is the first trans artist to receive the prize, which was announced on December 5, 2023, at a ceremony in Towner Eastbourne, where the exhibition of the four shortlisted artists is on view until April 14, 2024.
The Turner Prize, which was established in 1984 and is named after the 19th-century painter J.M.W. Turner, is awarded to a British artist or an artist based in Britain for an outstanding exhibition or presentation of their work in the past year. The prize has often been a source of controversy and debate, as it has recognized artists who challenge the conventions and boundaries of art, such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Steve McQueen. The prize also reflects the diversity and dynamism of the British art scene, as it has celebrated artists from different backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives, such as Lubaina Himid, Anish Kapoor, and Tai Shani.
Darling, who was born in Oxford in 1981 and graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2014, is one of the most innovative and original artists of their generation. Their work is concerned with themes of power, vulnerability, and identity, as they explore how the social, physical, and gendered body is shaped and governed by the forms and forces of the world. Darling uses everyday objects, such as rollercoaster tracks, clay, and metal bars, to create sculptures that evoke the fragility and resilience of living beings and systems. Darling also employs drawing, text, and poetry to express their personal and political views on the human condition.
Darling was nominated for two solo exhibitions in 2022: “No Medals, No Ribbons” at Modern Art Oxford and “Enclosures” at Camden Art Centre. In both shows, the artist presented a selection of new and existing works that spanned the last decade of their career. In “No Medals, No Ribbons”, Darling showed how the systems of power, such as government, religion, ideology, technology, and empire, can be as precarious and mortal as the human body. In “Enclosures”, Darling addressed the histories of extraction and exhumation, and considered clay as a material formed from the architectural, ancestral, cultural, and corporeal bodies of our material world.
The jury for the 2024 Turner Prize consisted of Aaron Cezar, director of the Delfina Foundation; Elvira Dyangani Ose, director of the Showroom; Zoé Whitley, director of the Chisenhale Gallery; and Kim McAleese, programme director of Grand Union. The jury was chaired by Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain. The jury praised Darling’s work for its “poetic and expansive articulation of the social, physical and gendered body”. They also noted the artist’s “exploration of the fragility and resilience of the human condition in relation to the forms and forces that shape and govern our world”.
Darling received £25,000 ($33,000), while the other nominees – Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim, and Barbara Walker – each received £10,000 ($13,000). Leung is a London-based artist who works with installation, sound, video, and text to question the norms and values of contemporary society. Pilgrim is a Bristol-based artist who works with music, film, performance, and activism to create collaborative and participatory projects that address social and environmental issues. Walker is a Birmingham-based artist who works with drawing, painting, and printmaking to depict the histories and experiences of the African diaspora in Britain.
Darling’s victory is a historic moment for trans art, as it recognizes the contribution and visibility of trans artists in the contemporary art world. Darling’s work is not only a reflection of their own identity and experience, but also a challenge and an invitation to the viewers to rethink their own assumptions and expectations about art, life, and the world. Darling’s work is a testament to the power and potential of art to transform and transcend the boundaries and binaries that limit and oppress us.
