Turner Prize 1997 artists: Cornelia Parker

Cornelia Parker is a sculptor and installation artist. She undertook her BFA at Wolverhampton Polytechnic (1975–8) and her MFA at Reading University (1980–82).

Her early installation works were imbued with poetic innuendos linked to the fragility of human experience. Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (1991, London, Tate) is the restored three-dimensional volume of a garden shed exploded by the British Army at the request of the artist. The surviving fragments, suspended from the ceiling and lit by a single bulb, create a dramatic effect and cast shadows on the gallery’s walls.

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