2023 LONDON ACQUISITION PRIZE
THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD
The 2023 acquisitions became part of the permanent collection of The Hepworth Wakefield. The museum is a modern art gallery in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, designed by David Chipperfield Architects. It is the largest purpose-built gallery in the UK, and it celebrates the work of renowned British sculptor Barbara Hepworth. The gallery houses the Hepworth Family Gift, a collection of Hepworth's working models, alongside pieces from the former Wakefield Art Gallery. It also features a rotating program of contemporary exhibitions by international artists. The winners were chosen in collaboration with its Director, Simon Wallis, Deputy Director Olivia Colling, and Director of Collection & Exhibitions, Laura Smith.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Laura Smith, is currently the Director of Collection and Exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield. She had previously worked as a curator at Whitechapel Gallery, Tate and Nottingham Contemporary. She has a Master of Arts (MA) in Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art.
2023 ACQUISITIONS
Bronwyn Katz
Katz was born in 1993 in Kimberley, South Africa. Their practice engages with the concept of land as a repository of memory and trauma, reflecting on the notion of place or space as lived experience, and the ability of the land to remember and communicate memory. They work with iron ore, or used man-made objects, embodying acts of resistance and boundaries that continue to define our environments. Their works have been exhibited at Stevenson, Johannesburg, Andrew Kreps, New York, MASSIMODECARLO, Paris, White Cube, London, Peres Projects, Berlin, Cape Town, and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Metal Arts in Africa, Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York, the Venice Biennale, New Museum Triennial, New York, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv, The Arts Club of Chicago, Art Centre, Riga, Biennale de Lyon, and Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakech.
Rene Matić
Rene Matić is an artist, writer and poet based in London. Their work brings together themes of post-blackness, glitch feminism and subcultural theory in a meeting place they describe as rude(ness). Matić takes their departure point from dance and music movements, using them as sites to queer and re-imagine the intimacies between West Indian and white working-class culture in Britain. Their works have been exhibited at the, Quench Gallery, Margate, UK, Arcadia Missa, London, VITRINE Gallery, London, Arles, France, Coles HQ, London, Bold Tendencies, London, South London Gallery, London, Schlossmuseum, Linz. Matić’s work is in several prominent collections including Tate, London, UK; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, FR; UK Government Art Collection, London, UK; Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, UK.
