Joy Gregory and Whitechapel Gallery Win £110,000 Freelands Award
Established in 2015, the Freelands Award provides £110,000 each year to a UK public arts institution for a solo exhibition featuring a mid-career woman artist. This year's recipient is Jamaican British artist Joy Gregory (b. 1959), who will collaborate with Whitechapel Gallery. For her exhibition, Gregory will earn a £30,000 fee to showcase both new and existing works. Other shortlisted candidates included Camden Art Centre with Ain Bailey, Chapter with Imogen Stidworthy, Goldsmiths CCA with Christina Mackie, and QUAD with Becky Beasley, each awarded £10,000 for their exhibition proposals. Gregory's first monographic exhibition will include photography, video, and textiles, and is set for autumn 2025, focusing on her research into Caribbean and Kalahari traditions.
Key facts
- Joy Gregory and Whitechapel Gallery win the £110,000 Freelands Award.
- The award is given annually to a UK public arts institution for a solo exhibition by a mid-career woman artist.
- Gregory receives a £30,000 fee for presenting old and new work.
- Shortlisted institutions each receive £10,000: Camden Art Centre and Ain Bailey, Chapter and Imogen Stidworthy, Goldsmiths CCA and Christina Mackie, QUAD and Becky Beasley.
- Gregory has been active since the 1980s, focusing on colonialism's effects on health, beauty, and knowledge.
- The exhibition will be her first monographic show, covering photography, video, film installation, performance, and textiles.
- A new work is commissioned based on research into linguistic and folkloric traditions of descendant communities in the Caribbean, Americas, and Kalahari.
- The exhibition takes place at Whitechapel Gallery in autumn 2025.
Entities
Artists
- Joy Gregory
- Ain Bailey
- Imogen Stidworthy
- Christina Mackie
- Becky Beasley
Institutions
- Whitechapel Gallery
- Freelands Award
- Camden Art Centre
- Chapter
- Goldsmiths CCA
- QUAD
Locations
- United Kingdom
- Caribbean
- Americas
- Kalahari