Cultivating Care: Inclusive Art and the Turner Prize 2025
Back in November, Alice Clayden, Pyramid’s Creative Programme Coordinator, joined a panel of artists, curators and academics to discuss the Turner Prize 2025 and the role of care in the art industry. Curated by Yorkshire Contemporary in partnership with the University of Leeds, the event took place at the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery. The discussion, held both in person and online, brought together a distinguished panel to explore how care is expressed, embodied and challenged within contemporary artistic practice and curation.
Unpacking Care in Art
Chaired by Turner Prize 2025 co-curator Michael Richmond, the conversation aimed to unpack a complex set of questions: How do artists demonstrate care in their work? How do institutions uphold (or fail to uphold) care? And what does it mean to cultivate environments that genuinely support both individuals and communities?
Speaking from her experience working with artists who have learning disabilities and autism, Alice emphasised the difficulty of representation in traditional art spaces and what Nnena Kalu’s nomination, and now win, means for the community.
‘Myself and a lot of other people who work in inclusive arts with learning disabled artists spend a lot of our time feeling like we’re having to push and prove why the artwork the artists we support make is so important and amazing in its own right. Being able to experience that space with Nnena’s work was just so important for her community.’
Inclusive Art Spaces Build Confidence
Drawing on Pyramid’s long history of inclusive arts practice, Alice explained how supportive and flexible creative environments allow artists with learning disabilities and autism to thrive beyond their creative practice.
‘A lot of people with learning disabilities often have their lives scheduled for them and don’t get to make a lot of decisions about what they do and how they spend their time. Even as simple as coming to Pyramid or another inclusive art space, or any kind of space where people can choose what paint they want to use, what colour they want to use, expands how they see themselves and gives them so much more confidence to then make those decisions in their lives about how they want to be supported and how they want to look after themselves. Even something as small as that can really change someone’s way of being and thinking about themselves.’
She emphasised that even seemingly small acts of creative choice can have transformative effects on how individuals see themselves and navigate the world.
Long-Term Support as a Form of Care
Alice also noted the crucial role sustained relationships play in enabling artists with learning disabilities to build meaningful creative practices. She highlighted the long-term collaboration between Nnena Kalu and her studio assistant Charlotte at ActionSpace—a partnership spanning over two decades:
“The story of Nnena and Charlotte at ActionSpace shows it’s really important to get to know people and have time to get to know people and get to work together and explore things.”
She contrasted this with the realities many people with learning disabilities and autism face: short-term support, high staff turnover and systems that inadvertently discourage long-term relationships. This lack of investment often prevents artists from developing deep creative collaborations and exploring their full potential.
Pioneering Research on Inclusive Arts Practice
Alice also discussed the ongoing research between Pyramid and Dr Jade French from the University of Leeds. Their four-year project, Inclusive Art for Wicked Problems, part of the Irregular Art School funded by UKRI, explores how inclusive arts practice can mobilise the expertise of people with learning disabilities across challenges within the social care system. This project sees Pyramid working with partners across the UK and internationally, including ActionSpace, Project Artworks, Blue Room and Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Four Pyramid members are working as researchers in this project, each developing and pursuing their own research questions on issues such as advocacy in social care, reimaging inclusive arts education, the impact of media around disability welfare policy and how art can influence a more inclusive, environmentally friendly development of AI. The project will provide meaningful change for people with learning disabilities in addition to shifting the paradigm approach to research, where people with learning disabilities are often treated as subjects of research and not leaders of that research.
As the creative sector celebrates Nnena Kalu’s Turner Prize win, Alice hopes this recognition will open doors for many more artists with learning disabilities and autism:
‘I hope that all the events and great work that Yorkshire Contemporary and ActionSpace have done will help make other institutions feel more confident to reach out to learning-disabled artists and show that there doesn’t have to be barriers between us. It can just be conversations, coming to meet people and offering space and time. I think it will definitely have a massive impact.’
Her reflections underline a hopeful vision: a sector where artists with learning disabilities and autism are not exceptions but integral contributors who are supported, valued and visible.
If you’d like to listen to the full conversation recorded by the Gloves Off podcast, visit: https://glovesoffleeds.podbean.com/e/contemporary-conversations-notions-of-care-a-response-to-the-turner-prize-2025/
Photos courtesy of Yorkshire Contemporary
