Chicago artist takes home £40,000 Artes Mundi prize
Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates has won the coveted Artes Mundi 6 award in Cardiff.
Gates beat nine other nominees to take home the £40,000 prize - the largest award for the arts in the UK. The other nominees were from 70 countries including Portugal, Israel and Iceland, and were shortlisted from more than 800 entries. First Minister Carwyn Jones presented Gates with his prize at the National Museum Cardiff on Thursday night. The winning installation, A Complicated Relationship between Heaven and Earth, or When We Believe, is a series of symbolic objects that the artist says challenges the dominance of Christian ideology in the western world. Gates said he was "grateful" to Artes Mundi for the global platform to "expand the context" of his work. Artes Mundi director Karen Mackinnon said Gates stood out for "his ability to be not just an artist but an urbanist, a facilitator and a curator". Held every two years, Artes Mundi was founded in 2002 by Welsh artist William Wilkins and supports contemporary visual artists from around the world who are still gaining international recognition.