The prestigious Art Icon award, now in its twelfth year, celebrates the work of an artist deemed to have made a profound contribution to the artistic landscape. The 2025 award will be presented to the Colombian artist, Doris Salcedo, at a special Gala celebration held at Whitechapel Gallery on 3 March 2025.
Of the announcement, Whitechapel Gallery Director, Gilane Tawadros commented:
“I am delighted to announce Doris Salcedo as our 2025 Art Icon. Throughout her career, Salcedo has made powerful and compelling works of art that address themes of violence, exclusion and human rights, drawing attention to human tragedy. Her work gives form to pain, trauma and loss in a way which is intimate and humane, enabling us to connect on an individual and collective level that contrasts strikingly with media accounts of human suffering. For the artist, “every work of art is political, because every work of art is breaking new ground’. At a time when conflict and violence continues to erupt with grim reverberations across the globe, Doris Salcedo’s work has never felt more resonant and important, acting as a beacon for how art can illuminate our shared humanity and offer a much needed space for reflection, remembrance and mourning.”
There will be an accompanying online auction of artworks donated by leading contemporary artists to raise valuable funds for the Gallery. Proceeds will support Whitechapel Gallery’s Exhibitions and participation programmes, designed to inspire and develop a new generation of artists.
Previous recipients of the Art Icon award are: Sir Howard Hodgkin (2014), Richard Long (2015) Joan Jonas (2016), Peter Doig (2017), Mona Hatoum (2018), Rachel Whiteread (2019), Francis Alÿs (2020), Yinka Shonibare CBE RA (2021), Tracey Emin CBE (2022), Jenny Holzer (2023) and Isaac Julien (2024).
View the Art Icon 2025 press release here.
For more details about Art Icon 2025 please email articonaward@whitechapelgallery.org.
