66-year-old Ryan is the oldest person to be awarded the prize, which long had a restriction that only artists under 50 could be nominated.
Among other things, she is praised for a permanent installation in East London in honor of the so-called Windrush generation, a term for the people who after the Second World War immigrated to Great Britain from British colonies in the Caribbean. At the time, they constituted an in-demand workforce, but 70 years later a scandal erupted after many were wrongly labeled as illegal immigrants.
Ryan himself was born on Montserrat, a British territory in the Caribbean.
In its nomination, the jury highlights the “poetic and personal way” in which Ryan “develops the language of sculpture”.
The Turner Prize, named after the master painter William Turner, has been awarded under the auspices of the Tate Britain art museum since 1984. The winner also receives 25,000 pounds, equivalent to approximately 315,000 kroner.