Macclesfield artist wins Turner Prize

Maxonian Helen Marten has won the Turner Prize, and has said she intends to share the £25,000 award with her fellow nominees.

The youngest on the shortlist, Marten uses sculpture, screen printing and writing to create her work.

The prestigious prize is awarded to a British artist, under the age of 50, considered to have put on the best exhibition of the past year.

It is the second prize in a month for Marten, who also won the inaugural Hepworth Prize.

The 31-year-old painter and sculptor brings together a range of handmade and recognisable objects from everyday life in her installations.

A collection of her work on display at Tate Britain in London as part of the Turner Prize exhibition include works made from cotton buds, marbles, snooker chalk and bicycle chains.

Accepting her prize from poet Ben Okri, Marten said she “wasn’t expecting” to win and that she could not think of “a more brilliant and exciting shortlist of artists to be part of”.

The London-based artist, who was born in Macclesfield, faced competition from Anthea Hamilton, Michael Dean and Josephine Pryde for the prize, the aim of which is to “promote public debate around new developments in contemporary art”.

The runners-up each receive £5,000.

Marten was nominated for projects including Lunar Nibs at the 56th Venice Biennale and her solo exhibition Eucalyptus Let Us In at Greene Naftali in New York.

In November, as she won the Hepworth Prize for sculpture, she announced she intended to share the £30,000 money with her four fellow nominees.