Nnena Kalu is first artist with learning disability to win Turner Prize

Nnena Kalu, an artist who uses videotape, plastic sheeting and cardboard tubes to make brightly coloured cocoon-like sculptures, on Dec 9 won the Turner Prize, one of the art world’s most prestigious awards.

- Alex Marshall

Mr Alex Farquharson, director of the Tate Britain art museum in London and chair of the prize jury in 2025, said in an interview that Kalu was the first artist with an openly discussed learning disability to receive the honour.

The decision to give Kalu the prize was trailblazing, he added, as it represented a “toppling of the wall” between disabled and non-disabled artists. However, he said Kalu received the award solely for the “sheer quality, verve and beauty” of her abstract art.

Kalu, 59, has exhibited work at the Manifesta art biennale in Barcelona, Spain, and the Kunsthall Stavanger in Norway, and has work in Tate’s collection. She has attracted attention in the art world for achieving that in spite of having autism and a learning disability with limited verbal communication.