At 66, Ryan is the oldest artist to date to receive the prestigious award, once donated by artist Joseph Mallord William Turner. Bils 2016 there was an age limit of 50 years, the prize for the sensational, scandalous actions of the “Young British Artists” was famous for a long time. Now it offers more of a forum for dealing with the diversity of British society.
Ryan, who was awarded the “Order of the British Empire”, one of Great Britain’s highest honors, by the Queen last year, works in various media and thus plays on traditions, the traumata of Caribbean slaves and the region’s interdependencies with the British Empire on. Last year, around three large sculptural replicas of Caribbean fruit were erected in London’s Hackney district, the symbolism of which was intended to commemorate the spread of Caribbean culture (and the prejudices that went with it). It was the first permanent sculpture by a black artist to be placed in a public space in London.