The Ellie Project

Turner Prize 2025 Lands in Bradford

This year, one of the most prestigious awards in contemporary art comes to Bradford. The Turner Prize, named after the radical British painter JMW Turner, is one of the world’s best-known visual arts prizes. Each year it celebrates a British artist pushing boundaries in their practice, sparking debate, and shaping the conversation around what art can be.

Traditionally hosted in different cities across the UK, the Turner Prize exhibition not only showcases the shortlisted artists but also shines a spotlight on the host city. In 2025, there’s no better place than Bradford — the upcoming UK City of Culture 2025, a city that has been steadily building momentum with a packed calendar of exhibitions, festivals, and cultural projects designed to put it firmly on the cultural map.

The shortlist was announced on 23 April 2025, 250 years to the day since Turner’s birth, a fitting tribute in a year when his radical spirit resonates as strongly as ever. The exhibition of shortlisted artists will take place at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery from 27 September 2025 to 22 February 2026, with the winner announced in Bradford on 9 December 2025.

The Shortlisted Artists

• Nnena Kalu
  Kalu transforms spaces with bold hanging sculptures and layered drawings. Her abstract works are all about energy, rhythm, and materiality, creating immersive environments that feel alive.
• Rene Matić
  Nominated for their Berlin exhibition AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH, Matić uses photography, sculpture, sound, and textiles to explore themes of belonging, community, and identity. Their work captures the struggles and solidarity of a generation navigating what it means to belong.
• Mohammed Sami
  In After the Storm at Blenheim Palace, Sami’s haunting paintings use metaphor and ambiguity to explore memory, exile, and conflict. At first glance serene, his landscapes and still lifes slowly reveal deeper scars of war and displacement.
• Zadie Xa
  Working with painting, sound, textiles, and sculpture, Xa creates enchanting installations that connect Korean shamanism, ocean life, interspecies worlds, and ancestral memory. Her practice blends personal heritage with universal themes of grief, spirit, and survival.

Hosting the Turner Prize is a huge moment for Bradford. As the UK City of Culture 2025, it will be home to hundreds of cultural events throughout the year — from exhibitions and performances to festivals and large-scale public art. Bringing the Turner Prize to Cartwright Hall adds another jewel to the crown, signalling that Bradford is ready to step onto the national and international stage.

It’s also a chance for visitors to explore the city’s rich cultural mix, historic architecture, and buzzing creative energy, as well as the major events rolling out across the year to celebrate its new title.

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