THE internationally renowned Turner Prize is coming to Bradford in what has been described as a “landmark moment” for the city.
One of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts, the Turner Prize aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art.
Established in 1984, the prize is named after the radical painter JMW Turner.
It is awarded each year to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work. This year, the winner will be announced at an award ceremony in Bradford on December 9.
Previous winners have included Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, and Grayson Perry, and a celebrity presents the prize. Previous presenters have included Richard Attenborough, Madonna, and Yoko Ono.
Tate has today announced the four artists who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2025 -Nnena Kalu, Rene Matić, Mohammed Sami and Zadie Xa.
An exhibition of their work will be held at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery from September 27 to 22 February 22, 2026, in a major moment in the Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture celebrations.
“It’s a powerful opportunity to welcome visitors from across the UK and beyond, and to showcase everything that makes Bradford such a dynamic and culturally rich place.
“Each of the nominees has a remarkable ability to take huge subject matters and abstract themes, and turn them into powerful, shared experiences.
“We believe that audiences will connect deeply with the diversity of vision, ideas, and approach of these exceptional artists. We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Tate, Bradford Museums & Galleries, and Yorkshire Contemporary to bring this prestigious event to the beautiful Cartwright Hall Art Gallery.’
Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and chair of the Turner Prize jury, said: ‘It’s an honour to announce this fantastic Turner Prize shortlist – congratulations to all the nominees.
“The shortlist reflects the breadth of artistic practice today, from painting and sculpture to photography and installation, and each of the artists offers a unique way of viewing the world through personal experience and expression.
“On JMW Turner’s 250th birthday, I’m delighted to see his spirit of innovation is still alive and well in contemporary British art today, and I look forward to an unmissable exhibition of their work in Bradford this autumn.’
About the shortlisted artists
Peterborough artist Rene Matic was among the four shortlisted artists announced at the Tate Britain on Wednesday for their first institutional solo exhibition, called As Opposed To The Truth, which touches on ideas of the rise of right-wing populism and identities.
Alongside Matic were three fellow London-based artists, Glasgow-born Nnena Kalu, Mohammed Sami, who first moved to Sweden after leaving Iraq, and Canada-born Zadie Xa.
Their work looks at themes including “the constructed self through the lens of rudeness”, which they have taken from rudeboy culture, a Jamaican subculture in the UK.
It includes personal photographs of family and friends in stacked frames, paired with sound, banners, and an installation at the Centre for Contemporary Arts Berlin, Germany.
They also have an ongoing collection called Restoration, which focuses on “antique black dolls salvaged by the artist” and a flag quoting political leaders who called for “no place for violence” in the wake of the attempted assassination of US President Donald Trump.
Kalu, born in Glasgow in 1966, is a resident artist at ActionSpace’s studio, which supports learning disabled artists across London, at Studio Voltaire.
The items are made from colourful streams of repurposed fabric, rope, parcel tape, cling film, paper and reels of VHS tape.
Kalu is nominated for her installation Hanging Sculpture 1-10, which Manifesta 15 Barcelona commissioned her to create at a disused power station, and her presentation in Conversations, a group exhibition at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
The works contain 10 large brightly coloured sculptures that hung among the grey concrete pillars of the industrial site, and a work in pen, graphite and chalk pen on two pieces of paper.
She was commended for “her unique command of material, colour and gesture and her highly attuned responses to architectural space”.
Xa, 41, who studied at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver and the Royal College of Art in London, is influenced by her Korean background and its “spiritual rituals, shamanism, folk traditions and textile practices”.
It has a sound element inspired by Salpuri, a Korean exorcism dance, and a mobile sculpture inspired by seashell wind chimes and Korean shamanic rattles, which has 650 brass bells that make harmonised sounds.
Painter Sami, 40, born in Baghdad, has studied at the Belfast School of Art and Goldsmiths College, London.
Sami was given the nod for After the Storm: Mohammed Sami at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, which has 14 paintings that respond to the history of Sir Winston Churchill’s birthplace, and contain “hints and references to conflict in Iraq”.
The paintings do not have human figures, while one shows the “shadow of a helicopter blade over a table and empty chairs”, and another appears to suggest body bags.
