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Luke Willis Thompson (born 1988 in Auckland, NZ) dedicates himself to the exploration of uncomfortable topics. Inequality by class, race or social background, institutional violence, colonialism, and forced migration, these issues often leave people lost for words. Through film, performance, installations, sculpture or photography the artist finds ways to put the pain and hope for a better world into images that resonate on an intimate level with the beholder leaving space for own interpretations and deep empathy.

work

Biography // Education

2015

Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Frankfurt am Main, DE

2010

MFA Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, NZ

2009

BFA Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, NZ

Biography // Solo Exhibitions

2019

Adjacency, Galerie Nagel Draxler Kabinett, Berlin, DE
Hysterical Strength, GAMeC, Bergamo, IT

2018

_Human, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, CH
Luke Willis Thompson, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, NZ

2017

autoportrait, Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland, NZ
autoportrait, Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK

2016

Cemetery of Uniforms and Liveries, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin, De
Misadventure, Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane, AU
Sucu Mate/Born Dead, Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland, NZ

2015

Sucu Mate, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne, DE

2014

Walters Prize Exhibition, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, NZ

2012

inthisholeonthisislandwhereiam, Hopkinson Cundy, Auckland, NZ

2010

Elam Graduate Show: MFA Program, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland, NZ

Biography // Group Exhibitions

2022

The Mouth is for Speaking, WE ARE AIA, Zurich, CH

2018

Turner Prize, Tate Britain, Uk
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2018, MMK 3, Frankfurt am Main, DE
We don’t need another hero, 10th Berlin Biennale, DE

2017

Field Guide, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, CA
Shout, Whisper, Wail: The Chartwell Show, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, NZ

2016

Sao Paulo Bienial, Sao Paulo, BR
La Bienniale de Montreal, Montreal, CA
Sucu Mate/Born Dead, Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland, NZ

2015

Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Museum, Queensland, AU
Parked like Serious Oysters, Museum fur Modern Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, DE
Surround Audience, New Museum Triennial, New York, USA

2014

Foreign Exchange – or the stories you wouldn’t tell a stranger, Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main, DE
Pequod, Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland, NZ

2013

On this day alone, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, AU
If you were to live here…, Auckland Triennial, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, NZ

2012

Between memory and trace, Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Pakuranga, NZ
In Spite of Ourselves: Approaching Documentary, St Paul St Gallery, AUT, Auckland, NZ

2010

Make\Shift: Tautai’s third tertiary show, St Paul St Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Memory to the marrow, Projectspace B4321, Auckland, NZ

2009

When we read, we really read, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland, NZ

2008

Deadline Authentico!, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland, NZ

Biography // Awards & Grants

2018

Turner Prize nomination
Deutsche Börse photography prize winner

2016

Chisenhale gallery Create residency, London, UK

2014

Walters Prize winner
Sa Sa Bassac Cambodia Exchange project, KH

2013

Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main, DE

Biography // Collections

Tate Collection, UK
Collection Jan Warburton, Dunedin, NZ
Private Collections

Biography // Bibliography

Tina Campt, 'Adjacency: Luke Willis Thompson’s Poethics of Care', Flash Art, 8 October 2019
En Liang Khong, 'The Moral Clarity of The Turner Prize 2018', Frieze, 27 September 2018
Adrian Searle, 'Turner prize 2018 review – no painting or sculpture, but the best lineup for years', The Guardian, 24 September 2018
Tavia Nyong'o, 'One Take: Luke Willis Thompson _Human', Frieze, 20 September 2018
Dan Fox, 'Yes the Turner Prize 2018 is Political, and We Shouldn’t be Surprised', Frieze, 27 April 2018
Tobi Haslett and Luke Willis Thompson, 'About Face', Mousse, Issue #57, February 2017
Hettie Judah, 'Diamond Reynolds: the woman who streamed a police shooting becomes a Renaissance Madonna', The Guardian, 26 June 2017
K. Emma Ng, 'Hey, You There! Tactics of Refusal in the Work of Luke Willis Thompson', Pantograph Punch, August 2017
Sophie Von Olfers & Luke Willis Thompson, 'Out of the Gallery', Mousse, Issue #41, December 2013
Hamish Win, 'Immaterial Transformations', Un Magazine, Issue 6.2, December 2012
S/F newspaper project, Auckland