Preston Professor Lubaina Himid's Turner Prize show opens in Hull

The Contemporary Art Professor was shortlisted for the prestigious Turner Prize in May. Now the creations of all four shortlisted artists are on display at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, which is this year’s City of Culture.

The 62 year old Professor, (pictured), who is the oldest nominee for the contemporary art prize, explained her motivation for creating new work: “I need to do it because there are stories that need to be told, there are stories that aren’t being told, there are gaps in history that are not being filled and there are gaps in education that aren’t being served by the system we live in. I only know how to paint. So rather than being a politician or a historian that’s what I do.”

Lubaina, who was born in Zanzibar and grew up in London, was made an MBE in 2010.

Judges praised her work “for addressing pertinent questions of personal and political identity”.

Turner Prize curator Sacha Craddock said: “The students in Preston must feel immensely proud of her; she is successful in so many ways at the moment and having the most amazing time with exhibitions all over the world.”

The £25,000 prize aims to promote public debate on new developments in contemporary British art.

The winner will be announced on December 5 and the exhibition continues at the Ferens Art Gallery until January 7.

• The Preston based artist was one of the pioneers of the British black arts movement in the 1980s.

She was shortlisted following two solo exhibitions in Oxford and Bristol.

The Oxford exhibition brought together a wide range of her paintings, sculptures, ceramics from the 1980s to the present day.The Bristol display highlighted 100 colourful figures of 17th century African slave servants brought to Europe. She had also participated in a group exhibition in Nottingham.

Other shortlisted artists are: Hurvin Anderson, Andrea Buttner and Rosalind Nashashibi.The prize has previously been won by Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley and Grayson Perry.