The Arts Foundation announce the four Shortlisted Artists of the Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2026 for Visual Art.
The Visual Art Award supports groundbreaking artists working across a broad range of visual arts and interdisciplinary art form practices, including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and artist moving image. Meet the Shortlist:
Mark Corfield-Moore was born in 1988 in Bangkok, Thailand and currently lives and works in Hastings, UK. Describing himself as a painter who utilises textile techniques, in his practice, Mark reflects on his Thai and British heritage to investigate themes of transience and cultural memory.
Zein Majali is a Jordanian-Palestinian sound and visual artist whose work explores the collision of technology with a rapidly evolving political landscape, with an interest in a post-colonial and globalised Middle East. Her work examines sense-making in the wake of narrative collapse, brought on by the disorienting effects of digital life.
Jesse Pollock’s sculptural practice is rooted in the exploration of material, tradition, and the contradictions of contemporary rural life. Working primarily with cast and sheet aluminium, he distorts and reconstructs familiar objects—flowers, skulls, ladders, and flagons—through cutting, welding, and sandcasting.
Shaqúelle Whyte (b. 2000, Wolverhampton) lives and works in London. In his paintings, Shaqúelle presents imagined spaces imbued with a sense of ambiguity that interrogate the human condition, all the while exploring the material qualities of the medium.
With thanks to our independent Jury members: Simeon Barclay, Artist; Sook-Kyung Lee, Professor, The University of Manchester; and Eva Langret, Director, Frieze London, who said:
“All the artists shortlisted for the Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2026 for Visual Art are exceptional practitioners with impressive and distinct respective trajectories to date. It’s not an easy time to be a visual artist in the UK, but all their work has a depth and urgency to it. They have such clear visions for the next stage of their growth and development of their practice, and we hope this recognition enables them all to continue to expand the scope of their ideas and production.”
The Arts Foundation has a long history of supporting visual art, and Mary Jane Edwards, Director of The Arts Foundation, says:
“The four shortlisted visual artists demonstrate exceptional creative ambition and originality, each pursuing a distinctive and highly considered approach to making work. At a pivotal stage in their careers, they are developing practices that challenge conventions, engage critically with the world around us, and contribute meaningfully to the evolving landscape of contemporary visual art. Through this recognition, we seek to support their continued experimentation and long-term artistic development.”
The winning Fellow, receiving £20,000, will be revealed at an Award Ceremony on 2 February 2026, with all Shortlisted Artists awarded £1,000 towards their artistic practice.
The Arts Foundation is a registered charity that supports individual artists and creatives in the UK with unconditional financial Fellowships of £20,000 through the Arts Foundation Futures Awards. Since it was founded in 1993, the Arts Foundation has awarded over £2 million to the most promising artists in the UK at a pivotal moment in their careers to enable them to concentrate on their creative development, experiment, and realise their artistic potential.
The Visual Art Award is supported by The Yoma Sasburg Estate.