71 artists are to be exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery, along with the five painters selected in the shortlist for this prestigious award.
Ally Fallon
A graduate of the Manchester School of Art he displays his collection “If You Were Certain, What Would You Do Then?” An encounter of work that has had realistic images been made more abstract, the artist has said his pleasure lies in the making rather than the reaching. Fallon has previously exhibited in Manchester’s HOME, Cheshire’s The FG Gallery, and Boomer Gallery, London.
Davina Jackson
A past student of Central St Martins, The Byam Shaw School of Art, and completed postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy Schools. “Just Like It Was” is a creation of an intimate moment through landscape as both stage and metaphor, focusing on themes of memory, longing, and introspection according to the museum. Jackson has had eight solo exhibitions in her past.
Katy Shepherd
Having studied fine art, her postgraduate studies in painting were at the Royal College of Art. “The Bedscape” is translated from a series of transformations from the artist’s bedding into a fantasy landscape. The Gallery writes: The painted duvets, moulded by nocturnal movements responding to a restless mind, reveal peaks, escarpments, and folds that offer an escape from reality through intimate domestic spaces. Past collections have been featured at Gothenburg Museum and Maidstone Museum.
Miranda Webster
A native New Zealand artist who graduated from L’Atelier de Sèvres, France, before studying at Beaux-Arts de Paris, this artist has her new work entitled “laid out”. This work depicts the journey of a B&Q bought tree taken home then deliberately letting it die, and to finish its life on a bathroom towel. The gallery writes that the work became a portrait, transforming an act of complicity in death into a practice of tenderness and care. Webster has previously shown in Paris, including at Glassbox and IESA.
Joanna Whittle
The Zambia born artist studied at Central St Martins, before gaining her master’s at the Royal College of Art. As a nominee for this prize she presents “Darkened Heart (a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth)” The Gallery writes that the work speaks to a quiet, almost unseen conflict between light and dark while searching for shelter somewhere in between, where light becomes an act of subversion and resilience. Whittle won both the Harley Open Prize and the Contemporary British Painting Prize in 2019.
The first prize winner will be announced on 4 September, ahead of the exhibition’s opening weekend, with the winning artist receiving a first prize of £25,000 and the honour of joining an esteemed list of UK-based painters who have won the UK’s most prestigious painting prize over the past 68 years. The winning painting will be acquired by Walker Art Gallery and join its world-class collection, while the artist will also have a future solo exhibition at the gallery.
For further information visit: John Moores Painting Prize 2025 | National Museums Liverpool
