The Turner Prize & the Case for Curiosity

suzannenicholl
Dec 19, 2025
3 min read

This year's Turner Prize has been awarded to Glasgow-born, London-based Nnena Kalu. The following day during a radio discussion one of the interviewees dismissed Kalu's skill and artworks. I was rather prickled by this response and how casually Kali's achievement and art was flattened.

Seascape. Mixed media, 2025. Eva Lane — *Seascape*. Mixed media, 2025. Eva Lane

Of course, I accept that not everyone will like everything, that’s simply human nature. I don’t like liver, The Traitors, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts. And shock horror, I’m not especially fond of Rembrandt, Gainsborough or Canaletto, though I know people who adore them. Taste is personal. But ignorance is something else entirely.

And, in fairness to “your man on the radio”, that reaction might well have been mine too only five years ago. My tutor reminds me of the contorted look on my face back then, as I wrestled with the concept of modernism.

It's a conversation we have to have. Mixed media, 2025. Elizabeth Griffiths — *It's a conversation we have to have.* Mixed media, 2025. Elizabeth Griffiths

My conversion came slowly, through learning to look beyond the surface, to understand the story behind the work, and behind the artist.

Context, as it turns out, changes everything.

Take this weekend, for example. Escaping the Christmas melee, I wandered into RWA's 172 Open Exhibition.

I explored some real beauties, fascinating surfaces and intriguing materials, until I reached the invited artist, Maria Lalic.

My initial response was a flicker of irritation, if I'm completely honest. The work felt stark, straight forward, even disappointing. Was this about shock value? Is that what got Lalic invited as guest exhibitor?

'Volcano Grey Landscape Painting. 2025'

(Vesuvius Erupting at Night. Volaire. 1770's)

120 x 73.7 oil paint on canvas

'Sevres Blue Landscape Painting. 2004'.

(Le Chemin de Sevres. Corot. c1855-65)

34 x 49 oil paint on canvas

'Naples Yellow Red Landscape Painting. 2024'

(View from the Window at Quisisana. Dahl. 1820)

42.8 x 58.6 oil paint on canvas

There was clearly something going on I didn't understand.

Then I read the wall text.

Suddenly, the paintings shifted, as I understood more of the artist's intention. Lalic isn’t depicting landscape in the way we expect. The land itself is incorporated into the paint, it isn’t a rendering of place, but a work materially made of it.

The pieces extend further still, reaching back into conversations with historical painting and artists. (There’s a new rabbit hole to explore right there!)

Knowing more of the artist's intention added understanding and intrigue, opening up her thinking and process to me, the viewer.

This is what art does for me. It widens my thinking, slows me down, sharpens my focus. And inspires my own work, giving me outlets I may never have found otherwise.

So to the man on the radio, I’d say, don’t be so quick to judge. We may not instantly enjoy or admire a work of art, but curiosity is a gift. And if we allow ourselves to use it, the rewards can be extraordinary.

I'd highly recommend the RWA's Open Exhibtion but get there quick, it closes on Dec 28th. Here are some more of my favourite pieces.