Artist exhibition at Oxford's Ashmolean up for Turner Prize
Pio Abad has been shortlisted for the 2024 Turner Prize for his current Ashmolean exhibition, 'To Those Sitting in Darkness'.
Pio Abad has been shortlisted for the 2024 Turner Prize for his current Ashmolean exhibition, 'To Those Sitting in Darkness'.
The exhibition, which opened in February and runs to September 2024, is part of Ashmolean NOW, a series representing early to mid-career artists based in the UK. 'To Those Sitting in Darkness' is a visual conversation featuring profound, challenging and original works.
The other three artists nominated are, Manchester-born Claudette Johnson, Glasgow-born Kaur and Worthing-born Delaine Le Bas.
Pio Abad created a wide-ranging body of work for 'To Those Sitting in Darkness' encompassing drawing, sculpture and text. The title is a reference to American writer Mark Twain’s satire ‘To the Person Sitting in Darkness’ (1901), which strongly criticised imperialism.
Abad’s art concerns colonial history and cultural loss and is deeply informed by world history, with a particular focus on the Philippines, where he was born and raised.
His parents campaigned for justice during a time of conflict and corruption under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, and it is the need to remember this history that has shaped the foundations of his work.
The exhibition explores, identifies and illuminates objects Abad found in the rich and varied collections of the University of Oxford; his focus on those where their histories have been marginalised, unexplained, ignored or forgotten.
Pio Abad says: ‘I am beyond thrilled to be shortlisted for the Turner Prize. I share this honour with my community of makers, custodians and storytellers who made this exhibition possible: curator Lena Fritsch, my wife and collaborator Frances, the artist Carlos Villa and his family, and Jamela Alindogan and the Sinagtala weavers.
'My exhibition endeavours to illuminate struggles and stories that have been kept in the dark for too long, and I am delighted that this nomination can shine an even brighter light on them.’
Dr Xa Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean Museum, says: ‘I am thrilled that Pio has been shortlisted for the Turner Prize for his exhibition in our Ashmolean NOW series which encourages contemporary artists to engage with our collections and our history. Pio’s multi-layered works repay all the looking and thinking that their meticulous and engaging nature encourages us to give them.'
Pio Abad will be ‘In Conversation’ with Anthony Gardner, Professor of Contemporary Art History, Ruskin School of Art at the Ashmolean on Wed 1 May, 2024 to discuss 'To Those Sitting in Darkness', his artistic practise and interest in the historic collections he encountered in Oxford.
The artists are competing for £25,000, while those shortlisted will be awarded £10,000.
Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and chairman of the Turner Prize jury, said: "It is an honour to announce such a fantastic shortlist of artists and I cannot wait to see their exhibition at Tate Britain this autumn.
"All four of them make work that is full of life. They show how contemporary art can fascinate, surprise and move us, and how it can speak powerfully of complex identities and memories, often through the subtlest of details
An exhibition of the shortlisted work will be held at Tate Britain from September 25 to February 16.
The winner will be announced at an award ceremony at Tate Britain on December 3.