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Veronica Ryan: "An incredible fight"
Photo: ADAM VAUGHAN / EPA
The sculptor Veronica Ryan receives the Turner Prize this year, the most important British award for modern art.
The 66-year-old is being honored for her work on the so-called Windrush generation, immigrants from former British colonies in the Caribbean, and the corona pandemic, as the organizers announced in Liverpool on Wednesday evening.
This makes her the oldest winner in the history of the Turner Prize.
The jury praised the "personal and poetic way in which she expands the language of sculpture".
The £25,000 (about €29,000) prize was presented by singer Holly Johnson from the band Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
Ryan is from the Caribbean herself, she was born on the island of Montserrat.
For her art she uses fruits, seeds and volcanic ash from her home island.
Her career has sometimes been "an incredible struggle," she said, according to the British TV broadcaster BBC.
»There were almost 20 years when nobody paid any attention to my work.« She thanked the people »who took care of me when I was invisible and made works out of garbage«.
isb/dpa