The Booker-prizewinning writer Bernardine Evaristo praised Ingrid Pollard in an Instagram post last month after the seasoned British artist scooped one of the world’s top photography prizes, the Hasselblad Award. The accolade comes with a hefty SKr2m prize pot (around £152,000) and a show at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, Sweden. Pollard has come to the fore in recent years, bagging a Turner Prize nomination in 2022, but crucially she was also a key figure in the British Black Arts movement of the 1980s and an active member of grassroots campaigns for women’s liberation and LGBTQ+ rights. Evaristo highlighted Pollard’s unique journey, saying: “It’s wonderful that she is now being rewarded for pursuing a singular artistic vision rather than bowing to commercial pressures. Folks, you never know what the future has in store for you.” Brava, Ingrid.
