As part of my series exploring occupational therapy through popular culture, I was inspired after watching Channel 4 News and a story about the Turner Prize. What struck me was the feature on one of this year’s nominees, the first ever person with a learning disability to be shortlisted. I immediately began to think about how I could connect this story, and the Turner Prize itself, to occupational therapy theory.
The Turner Prize is something I’ve followed since studying art A Level in the late 1990s. One of my favourite winners was Grayson Perry, who I’ll be writing about in a future blog.
Almost without hesitation, my mind went to Ann Wilcock’s concepts of Doing, Being, Becoming, and Belonging. This is not a model in the structured sense, but rather powerful dimensions of occupation that help us understand why what people do matters so deeply for identity, health, and community.
Curious to know more about the artist, I looked further and found a Guardian article about her. The more I read, the more I realised how much her journey illustrates the essence of Wilcock’s framework.
Nnena Kalu’s Story
Nnena Kalu was born in Glasgow in 1966 to Nigerian parents. She is autistic and has complex support needs, and she has been making art for decades. Her work has evolved dramatically over time.
In her earlier years she produced more structured drawings — repeated shapes, clusters of colour, highly ordered. Around 2013, her practice shifted. She began producing large, dynamic sculptural installations, built from recycled and everyday materials like VHS tape, cling film, and fabrics. Wrapping, layering, and binding became her signature.
Her art has been nurtured through ActionSpace, an organisation that supports learning-disabled artists. She has worked closely with facilitator Charlotte Hollinshead for nearly 30 years. Hollinshead describes her as someone whose “need to make is off the scale,” a phrase that captures the sheer occupational drive behind her work. In the Channel 4 News feature, Hollinshead also spoke about the discrimination that both Nnena and ActionSpace have faced over the years, pointing out how the art world has often been slow to recognise learning-disabled artists as professionals in their own right.
Her installations have travelled internationally, most recently to Manifesta 15 in Barcelona, and now she is making history as the first person with a learning disability to be shortlisted for the Turner Prize.
What stands out most to me is how her art communicates beyond words. For someone with limited verbal communication, these gestures, these materials, these immense structures are her voice. And that voice is now being heard in one of the art world’s most prestigious contexts.
Doing, Being, Becoming, Belonging
So where does occupational therapy fit into this? Wilcock’s framework provides a helpful way of seeing the meaning behind her story:
- Doing: The act of making, wrapping, binding, sculpting, building. For Nnena, doing is not optional. It is central to her existence, her drive, her rhythm of life.
- Being: Through her art, Nnena is recognised as an artist, not just a person labelled by disability. Her being is about authenticity, about evolving identity. She has moved from structured drawings to expansive installations an evolving expression of self.
- Becoming: That shift in her practice, and her rise from local studios to international exhibitions, shows growth and potential realised. Her nomination is not the start of her journey but a recognition of the becoming she has already lived.
- Belonging: Perhaps the most powerful of all. In the Channel 4 News feature, Charlotte Hollinshead reflected not only on Nnena’s need to make but also on the discrimination that both she and ActionSpace have faced over the years. Too often, learning-disabled artists have been pushed to the margins, excluded from mainstream recognition. This Turner Prize nomination challenges that exclusion, declaring that artists like Nnena do belong at the heart of cultural life. For occupational therapists, this resonates with the concept of occupational justice the right of every person to participate fully in meaningful occupations, and the need to dismantle systemic barriers that limit belonging.
Why This Matters for Occupational Therapists
For occupational therapists, these dimensions are deeply familiar. We know that doing is never just about activity it’s about meaning, growth, and connection. We know that being is about identity, authenticity, and recognition. And we know that belonging is vital without it, participation feels hollow.
Nnena’s journey mirrors the work occupational therapists strive for: supporting people to do, to be, to become, and to belong. Her story also highlights the barriers that persist in art, in health, in society where disabled people are still too often excluded. The Turner Prize moment challenges those barriers, showing what happens when inclusion is not tokenistic but fully recognised.
Closing Thoughts
Watching Channel 4 News, reading the Guardian coverage, and reflecting through Wilcock’s lens has reminded me of how powerful Doing, Being, Becoming, and Belonging are when we see them in real life.
This nomination is not just about one artist. It’s about culture making space, expanding definitions, and declaring that everyone deserves to be seen, valued, and included.
For me, the next step is clear: I need to plan my trip to Bradford to see this year’s Turner Prize exhibition in person. To experience the art, but also to witness this moment of inclusion and belonging that resonates so strongly with what occupational therapy is all about.
References
- ActionSpace. (2025) Nnena Kalu in The Guardian. Available at: https://actionspace.org/nnena-kalu-in-the-guardian/ (Accessed: 23 September 2025).
- Channel 4 News. (2025, 23 September) Turner Prize 2025 feature on Nnena Kalu. Channel 4 [Television broadcast].
- Frankel, E. (2025, 19 May) “‘Her need to make is off the scale’: why Nnena Kalu’s Turner prize nomination is a watershed moment for art.” The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/may/19/nnena-kalus-turner-prize-watershed-glasgow(Accessed: 23 September 2025).
- Videotape sculptures and war trauma paintings make Turner prize shortlist. (2025, 23 April) The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/apr/23/videotape-sculptures-and-wartime-paintings-among-turner-prize-shortlist (Accessed: 23 September 2025).
- Wilcock, A.A. and Hocking, C. (2015) An Occupational Perspective of Health. 3rd edn. Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated.
Leave a Reply