Doris Salcedo announced as Whitechapel Gallery’s 2025 Art Icon

Whitechapel Gallery has named Doris Salcedo as the recipient of the 2025 Art Icon Award. The prestigious award, now in its 12th year, celebrates the work of an artist who has made a profound contribution to the artistic landscape.

The 2025 award will be presented to Salcedo at a special gala celebration at Whitechapel Gallery on 3 March 2025. The evening will be hosted by Whitechapel Gallery Director, Gilane Tawadros, and Chair of Trustees, David Dibosa.

Gilane Tawadros stated: '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 or how art can illuminate our shared humanity and offer a much needed space for reflection, remembrance and mourning.'