Veronica Ryan

Ryan lives and works between New York and Bristol.

Veronica Ryan studied at Slade School of Fine Art, SOAS, University of London and Bath School of Art and Design. The recorded working language is English. Work by Veronica Ryan is recorded in the collections of Tate and Kettle's Yard. Distinctions recorded are Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture and Turner Prize.

• Name — Veronica Ryan • Birth Name — Veronica Maudlyn Ryan • Born — 1956 • Birthplace — Plymouth, Montserrat • Education — * St. Albans College of Art and Design • Bath Academy of Art • Slade School of Fine Art • SOAS (MPhil) • Elected — Royal Academician (2022) • Awards — * OBE (2021) • Turner Prize (2022) • Works — Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae) and Soursop (Annonaceae) (2021)

Ryan was born in 1956 in Plymouth, Montserrat, the eldest of eight children. Her parents grew up in the Caribbean; her mother in the countryside, her father in the town. Ryan became interested in art in her school years. In particular, she remembers making a Christmas tree in infant school and being inspired by the creative use of materials in a minimalistic way. Ryan also cites her mother's patchwork as an inspiration for her art, and she learnt to sew and knit from an early age. Ryan studied at Hertfordshire College of Art and Design (1974–75), then Bath Academy of Art (1975–78) for her undergraduate degree. From 1978-80, Ryan studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. Whilst there, she spent significant time in the nearby British Museum looking in the Egyptology section and looking at African, Asian and other early objects, which informed her work. In 1980, Ryan was awarded a Boise Travelling Scholarship from the Slade. This allowed her to visit Nigeria. There, she became especially interested in the re-adaptation of everyday consumables, including food and ephemeral waste materials, into fetishes used in spiritual offerings and shrines. The trip inspired her to continue her studies with an MPhil degree in art history at the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), which she took from 1981-83.

Ryan completed her studies at the beginning of the 1980s, a time marked by the rise of the British Black Arts Movement. In 1983, she took part in the exhibition Black Women Time Now, curated by Lubaina Himid, and later Five Black Women Artists, at the Africa Centre, also curated by Himid. Her participation in The Thin Black Line (ICA, London, 1985, curated by Lubaina Himid) and From Two Worlds (Whitechapel Gallery, London; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 1986), meant that she became associated with a broader anti-racist movement. Later, she felt the need to clarify that her work should not be pinned exclusively to race. "All along I have had various people be very critical of me because I did not fit into their politicized agenda," she said. In 1984, Ryan had her first solo show at the Tom Allen Centre. Ryan was in residence at Tate St Ives in 1998 and 2000–01, when she worked in the former studio of Barbara Hepworth and used marble gifted by the Hepworth Estate. In June 2017, Ryan had a residency at The Art House, Wakefield, where she re-examined her connection with Barbara Hepworth in relation to themes of ancestral history, domesticity and memory. In 2018, Ryan was awarded the Freelands Award by the Freelands Foundation, for the exhibition Along a Spectrum at Spike Island, Bristol in Autumn 2020 Ryan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to art. In December 2022, Ryan won the Turner Prize for her "really poetic" work.

• Year — Title — Institution — Location — Ref • 1984 — Tom Allen Centre • 1987 — ICA — London • Arnolfini Gallery — Bristol • 1988 — Kettle's Yard — Cambridge • Riverside Studios — London • 1995 — Camden Arts Centre — London • Angel Row — Nottingham • 2005 — Archaeology of the Black Sun. Musings After Kristeva — Salena Gallery, Long Island University — New York • 2011 - 2012 — The Weather Inside — The Mattress Factory — Pittsburgh • 2017 - 2018 — The Art House — Wakefield • 2018 — Virginia Woolf: Exhibition Inspired By Her Writings — Tate St Ives — Cornwall • Tour • The Sculpture Collections Exhibition — Leeds Gallery Henry Moore Institute — Leeds • 2025 — Unruly Objects — Pulitzer Arts Foundation — St Louis • 2026 — Veronica Ryan: Multiple Conversations — Whitechapel Gallery — London • 2026 — Mount Stuart — Isle of Bute

• Year — Title — Institution — Location — Notes — Ref • 1983 — Five Black Women Artists — Africa Centre — London — Curated by Lubaina Himid • 1984 — Sculptors and Modellers — Tate • 1985 — The Thin Black Line — ICA — Curated by Lubaina Himid • 1986 — Stoke City Garden Festival — Stoke-on-Trent • From Two Worlds — Whitechapel Gallery — London • Fruitmarket Gallery — Edinburgh • 1990 — British Art Show — Hayward Gallery — London • 1993 - 1994 — Recent British Sculpture — Touring — Organised by the Arts Council • 2015 — Making It: Sculpture in Britain 1977–1986 • 2017 — The Place Is Here — Nottingham Contemporary — Nottingham

Ryan's work is in several public collections including: • Pérez Art Museum Miami • Arts Council of Great Britain • Tate • The Henry Moore Collection • Firstsite, Colchester • Mellon Bank, Pittsburgh • Rochdale Art Gallery • Contemporary Arts Society • Weltkunst Foundation, London • Salsbury Collection • Irvin Joffe Collection, London • Cleveland County Museum • The Boise Scholarship Collection • Leeds Art Gallery