Morgan Quaintance and Onyeka Igwe Clinch the 2025 Jarman Award
Morgan Quaintance and Onyeka Igwe have been declared the co-recipients of the prestigious 2025 Jarman Award.
The award ceremony, which took place this evening at the Soho Hotel in London, saw both artists receiving a £10,000 prize each. Established by Film London, the Jarman Award is now in its 18th year and is dedicated to recognizing innovative UK-based artists and filmmakers who excel in creating experimental moving images. The award is named after the influential British filmmaker Derek Jarman.
This year marks the second occasion that the Jarman Award has been presented to more than one recipient. Previously, in 2020, the award was collectively given to all six nominees as a gesture of unity within the artistic community amid the pandemic.
About the Winners
Morgan Quaintance is a well-known figure in the domain of artist-moving image. His works have been showcased at prominent venues and festivals including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the European Media Art Festival, Alchemy Film and Arts Festival, Images Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the Third Horizon Film Festival in Miami. He is a 2024 MacDowell Fellow and is presently featured in a solo exhibition titled Available Light at Chelsea Space.
Onyeka Igwe’s work has been exhibited at the Bonington Gallery, MoMA PS1, LUX, Mercer Union, and Jerwood Arts. Her recent engagements include group exhibitions at the Walker Art Gallery, the South London Gallery, and The Common Guild in Glasgow. She was a representative at the Nigeria Pavilion during the 2024 Venice Biennale and her current exhibition at Tate Britain, titled our generous mother, delves into the history of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s oldest degree-granting institution.
Both Quaintance and Igwe were among six artists shortlisted for this year’s award. The other nominees included Arwa Aburawa and Turab Shah, Karimah Ashadu, George Finlay Ramsay, and Hope Pearl Strickland. The works of all six nominees are currently on display at an exhibition in Whitechapel Gallery, which will run until December 14.
The panel of judges for this year’s Jarman Award included Matthew Barrington, Cinema Curator at Barbican; Shaminder Nahal, Commissioning Editor for Arts and Topical at Channel 4; Maryam Tafakory, the 2024 Jarman Awardee; Gilane Tawadros, Director of Whitechapel Gallery; and Nicole Yip, Director of Spike Island and a Film London Board Member.
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