Turner Prize: The Bets Are Open

Image:  Collective Conscience, 2019, by Oscar Murillo. Photography: David Levene

Betting website SkyBet have released odds for the winner of the Turner Prize 2019.

The Turner Prize is one of the best-known visual arts prizes in the world. Every year, four artists are shortlisted by a selected jury based on outstanding exhibitions over the past year. The prize is named after controversial artist J.M.W Turner (1775-1851) who was known for pushing the boundaries and creating innovative work.

Collective Conscience, 2019, by Oscar Murillo. Photography: David Levene

This year’s finalists are Oscar Murillo, Tai Shani, Helen Cammock and Lawrence Abu Hamdan.

Oscar Murillo immigrated to London from Columbia when he was 11 years old. He works with a range of different media, including video, painting, drawing, live events and collaborative projects with communities. His work explores themes of process and material as well as community and exchange. The artists family and friends are often involved in his work. “I try to keep a balance in my work between my desire to think primarily about image-making, texture, form and so on, and this constant awareness of the world,” Oscar Murillo. SkyBet places his odds for winning the Turner Prize at 9/4.

Tai Shani’s work is often centered around experimental texts and also incorporates film, performance, photography and sculptural instillation. Shani often works with long forgotten characters that she discovers in old historical texts or narratives, creating visual scenes that are paired with performance and monologue to create haunting new worlds. “I’m interested in femininity, and what can be salvaged from a history of femininity, to think about ways out of where we are now,” Tai Shani. SkyBet places her odds for winning the Turner Prize at 9/4.

Helen Cammock researches deeply into the complexities of social history, creating multi-media works that draw on print, text, performance, film and photography to expose marginalized voices, including her own. She creates non-linear narratives that move rapidly between different places and times, highlighting the complexity and inter-reliance of different world forces and narratives. “Histories are never behind us…They are part of who we are, who I am, who you are. I can’t ever think about making work that’s about contemporary life that doesn’t involve histories,” Helen Cammock. SkyBet places her odds for winning the Turner Prize at 11/4.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s received his PhD from Glodsmiths in 2017. His work is concerned with the ‘politics of listening’ when it comes to human rights and international law. His installation works include audiovisual pieces and he also creates lecture performances, photography and text work. He partners with major international aid charities in order to gather recorded testimonies for current legal investigations. “My interest in sound is that it can’t be contained, you can’t put it in a box. It will always leak,” Lawrence Abu Hamdan. SkyBet places his odds for winning the Turner Prize at 3/1.

This year’s Turner Prize exhibition is currently being presented at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate until January 12^th, 2020.