Veronica Ryan
Awarded 2022 PSSA Marsh Award for Public Sculpture
25 November 2022
Veronica Ryan OBE, Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae), and Soursop (Annonaceae), 2021. Courtesy: Paula Cooper Gallery, New York and Alison Jacques, London © Veronica Ryan; photo: Andy Keate
Alison Jacques is delighted to announce that Veronica Ryan OBE has been awarded the 2022 PSSA Marsh Award for Public Sculpture for her Hackney Council Commission Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae) and Soursop (Annonaceae) (2021), the UK’s first permanent public sculptures to celebrate and honour the Windrush Generations.
The works, which are installed in Narrow Way Square by St. Augustine’s Tower, East London, are commissioned by Hackney Council, curated and produced by Create London and supported by Art Fund with additional funding from the Henry Moore Foundation.
Ryan’s series of large-scale marble and bronze sculptures represent and respond to Caribbean fruit and vegetables, while alluding to ideas of movement, memory and cultural exchange. Speaking of the inspiration for the works, Ryan said: ‘I have memories of going to Ridley Road Market with my mother as a child to buy fruit and vegetables, fabrics and sewing materials. Little did I know, those early experiences would become essential material for my practice as an artist.’