Turner prize shortlist puts identity in the spotlight

Claudette Johnson has been nominated for the Turner prize for her work, which includes a portrait of the African-American slavery abolitionist Sarah Parker Remond commissioned as part of the Guardian's award-winning Cotton Capital series.

- Lanre Bakare

Johnson, Pio Abad, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas will compete for the £25,000 prize, while the nominated artists will each collect £10,000 as the prize returns to Tate Britain for the first time in six years.

Colonialism, migration, nationalism and identity politics are the key themes running through the 40th edition of the Turner prize, which the jury described as showing contemporary British art "is appealing and dynamic as ever".

Alex Farquharson, the director of Tate Britain and chair of the prize jury, said this year's nominees were exploring ideas of identity and would be exhibited from 25 September, before the jury's final choice.

He said: "This year's shortlisted artists can be broadly characterised as exploring questions of identity, autobiography, community and the self in relation to memory, or history or myth."