The Turner Prize is taking its biennial break from London and has come to Bradford to celebrate the city’s year as UK Capital of Culture. The shortlisted artists’ works have been showcased at Cartwright Hall, Bradford’s cultural cornerstone, set in the fabulous Lister Park just a mile or so from the city centre. Easily accessible by road, rail, bike or foot, there’s really no reason not to come. As a BD25 volunteer, here’s my experience of visiting this amazing exhibition, with insights I gleaned from visitors I spoke with.
Cartwright Hall
Cartwright Hall is one of the artistic jewels in Bradford’s crown and the city’s premier gallery of fine art. Its grandeur is enhanced by its setting in the middle of Lister Park, with its Mughal and Geological Gardens, boating lake and wide variety of sporting opportunities. A fine example of ‘Bradford Baroque’ architecture, it stands on the site of the old Manningham Hall which was demolished to make way for the newer site.
Famous Bradfordian wool baron Samuel Cunliffe Lister, by then the first Baron Masham, had gifted his family’s former seat of Manningham Hall to Bradford Corporation, but then disregarded it as fit only “as shelter from the rain”. So, he paid for its demolition and for the construction of what we have today.
This monument to humanity’s ability to evoke emotion through beauty and grandeur so perfectly befits and showcases the works of this year’s shortlisted artists, and was oft commented on by the many visitors who came in their droves. I’ve spoken to people who came from Canada, Kent, Cullingworth and even Leeds to immerse themselves in the art.
This setting, this location change, this provincial platform has made this year’s Turner Prize even more special, with its Bradford character. As one visitor, from Huddersfield, but formerly of London said, both delighted and exasperated:
“I lived in London for years so I’ve seen loads of Turner Prize exhibitions, but this is so different. In London it’s the same people you see at all the galleries, but here … there was a school group! You don’t get that in London! You’ve got such a mix of people. Not just different ethnicities – you get that in London – but it’s not just the usual middle class coming.”
As if to emphasise his point, two hijab-wearing ladies passed by, with Bradford accents as thick as that hall’s walls, as animated in their conversation about the art as any work of Kaur, Darling or Prouvost.
The artists
I could talk day and night about the written word, converse with confidence about The Bard, and even share a word or two on verse. But as for modern art, I had no clue until I came to Bradford and spent a couple of hours with the selected works of the most celebrated British artists of the moment.
Here, I share what Turner Prize and Bradford 2025 have to say about the artists and their work, followed by my own thoughts and what visitors said to me about them. Following the links, you can also watch the Exhibition Hub videos which will tell you more… not least how to pronounce the artists’ names so that you don’t sound like an uncultured doylum like I did for an hour, until corrected by kindly museum staff, directing visitors towards ‘Rennie Mattik’.
Nnena Kalu
As the Bradford 2025 website says: Glasgow-born Nnena Kalu is nominated for her exhibited works in Liverpool and Barcelona. She creates her sculptures with a loop, tube or structure, forming a base, around which she wraps, folds and knots streams of repurposed fabric, rope, tape, cling film, paper and VHS tape. These brightly coloured lengths and strips come together to form bundles, sometimes resembling nests or cocoons.
I saw huge plastic sea creatures hanging from the ceiling. Obviously, I thought, it’s a comment on (because mustn’t all art have something to say?) the plastic in our oceans and the ‘discard with no regard’ nature of our society.
Rene Matić
Rene Matić, according to the website introduction, works primarily with photography, as well as with sculpture, textiles, sound and other mediums. Their artwork questions identity, society, and how we find a sense of belonging. Created amid a backdrop of right-wing populism, violence and political hypocrisy, AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH explores how, despite this, people can ‘hold on to one another, care for each other, and learn to live with vulnerability,’ as they explain.
‘The Ducklings’ (BD25 volunteers dressed in our signature bright yellow) nicknamed this ‘The Scary Dolls’ Heads Room’ and it is the most varied of the spaces. Photos of protests and defiant political graffiti share the space with the aforementioned dolls’ heads, who sit silently but cohesively, a demonstration of how, like Bradford, kids of all backgrounds can coexist.
Mohammed Sami
The website states: nominated for After the Storm at Blenheim Palace, Mohammed Sami uses metaphor and ambiguity to create paintings about memory and conflict. Devoid of people, his works take the form of landscapes and still-lifes. These scenes might appear serene or without a narrative, but closer viewing reveals clues that hint towards more complex meanings.
This was my favourite space. The juxtaposition of Blenheim, built to reward the military triumphs of the first Duke of Marlborough, with many artworks glorifying war and celebrating soldiers, must have been something to behold. The most traditional gallery in many ways, as it consists of “proper paintings”, as one visitor remarked, Sami’s work shocked me and I found it an uncomfortable space to be in. It’s my favourite in much the same way as my visit to Auschwitz was one of my most memorable: moving, unforgettable and impactful.
The huge canvasses drew me in and managed to, just for a second, transport me to a moment, a dangerous, violent, frightening moment in time. Depending on your age, the most commented on and most striking canvas was most often referred to as either The Star Wars, The Apocalypse Now! or The Laser painting.
Zadie Xa
Zadie Xa’s work explores themes such as spirituality, interspecies communication and cultural traditions, particularly from her own Korean and Canadian background. Xa’s presentation Moonlit Confessions Across Deep Sea Echoes: Your Ancestors Are Whales, and Earth Remembers Everything uses painting, sound, textiles and sculpture to consider links between ocean life, generational grief, Korean shamanism and ghostly spirits.
This was easily the most commented-on of the spaces and the most impactful. Seashells hang, each whispering a soundscape to take the listener far, far away, mirrored by the floor, itself a polished canvas – so it is strongly advised that this is not a place for short skirts!
I can’t put it better than either of two of my favourite visitors. The first, a student on a trip from Leeds Art University, told me her favourite room was “The Druggy Room”, her self-incriminating slip causing much mirth amongst her friends. The second visitor, a little lass of about three, confidently told me her favourite room was “The Mermaid Room”.
Both names give you a feel for the room, but it is one to be experienced firsthand and the only one where a few visitors couldn’t enter for fear of falling, vertigo or reliving a bad trip from a misspent youth. It transports you to another world: for some, it is calming and serene; for others, it is unnerving and intense.
Visiting Turner Prize at Bradford 2025
You can see selected works from all the shortlisted artists at Cartwright Hall until 22 February, but wouldn’t a visit during 2025, Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture, be far more fitting? So, don’t delay, book your free ticket today, and come and see some of the country’s finest artists in one of the Turner Prize’s best settings.
Bradford’s a special place, perfect for hosting these artists’ extraordinary works. Come and join one of the many visitors I spoke to whose firsthand experience of the cultural weekend dispelled the stereotypes they’d heard in the media. Like them, you’ll leave extolling not only the virtues of the artists, but those of Bradford, too.
