Atkin’s artwork, Heirloom, is a bronze sculpture inspired by the flowing water-sleeve movements of Cantonese Opera. Its interlocking forms suggest the moment when fabric, gesture and the human figure become inseparable. The sculpture developed through an extended series of drawings exploring movement, balance and the transmission of cultural memory. The shortlisted work is a bronze maquette (preliminary sketch) related to the four-metre version of Heirloom commissioned for a prominent public location in Guangzhou, China. Its title refers to cultural inheritance, understood not as something fixed or preserved unchanged, but as something continually renewed through performance, interpretation and lived experience.
John Atkin is an internationally recognised British sculptor and Reader in Fine Art at Loughborough University. His public sculptures have been commissioned and exhibited in the UK, China, Canada and the United States. Major works include Strange Meeting, created for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games; Zhengzhou Twister in Henan Province; and the recently completed monumental bronzes Heirloom in Guangzhou and Confluence in Shenzhen. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Beijing National Academy of Sculpture and holds honorary and distinguished professorships at universities in China.
Speaking on his shortlisting, John said:
“I am delighted that Heirloom has been shortlisted for the 2026 London Sculpture Prize. The sculpture emerged from my sustained engagement with the movement and expressive language of Cantonese Opera, so it is particularly rewarding to see this work recognised and presented to a London audience.”
The London Sculpture Prize is an international award celebrating contemporary sculpture. The shortlisted works will be exhibited at Gunnersbury Park Museum in London from 17–22 November 2026, with the winners announced at the private view and awards ceremony on 17 November.