The Government Art Collection has announced that Scottish artist Anya Gallaccio has been named the recipient of the 2025 Robson Orr TenTen Award. The announcement was made by Baroness Twycross, Minister for Museums and Cultural Property, who also presented Gallaccio’s newly commissioned work, marking the latest addition to the collection.
Baroness Twycross remarked, “I am delighted to congratulate Anya Gallaccio on receiving the Robson Orr TenTen Award 2025. Her work demonstrates how art can bridge the natural world and human experience, creating connections that speak to our shared responsibility for the planet. We are proud to showcase such thought-provoking work that embodies both artistic excellence and engagement with global challenges.”
Now in its eighth year, the Robson Orr TenTen Award is presented by the Government Art Collection in partnership with philanthropists Sybil Robson Orr and Matthew Orr. Each year, a British artist is commissioned to produce a unique, limited-edition print. Fifteen editions are displayed in government buildings and embassies worldwide, while eleven are sold, with the proceeds used to acquire works by artists who are underrepresented in the collection. Over the past seven years, the award has helped develop more than 40 works by over 30 artists, including Sonia Boyce, Jesse Darling, Djofray Makumbu, Ingrid Pollard, Bindi Vora, and Barbara Walker.
Gallaccio’s TenTen print, Eight Hours of Whale Song, draws on her long-standing fascination with the communication of whales and the pioneering research of 19th-century Welsh singer Margaret Watts Hughes. To create the work, Gallaccio played eight hours of recorded whale song through a drum overlaid with pigment, observing the patterns formed on the surface. These movements were translated into a print using relief and pyrogravure techniques, producing a tactile, immersive composition.
Speaking on her approach, Gallaccio said, “Diplomacy is communication, listening to each other. In creating this print, I was particularly thinking about the importance of Diplomacy for an island nation—our need to connect across oceans. As a sculptor, I wanted it to be a very physical and tactile object. You have embossed areas, areas of relief, burnt areas, and the texture of the wood grain in the print. Each print is unique.”
Born in Paisley in 1963 and raised across Glasgow and London, Anya Gallaccio divides her time between London and San Diego. Her practice, long celebrated for its use of organic and transient materials—from ice and apples to flowers and trees—continually probes the processes of transformation and decay, reshaping perceptions of contemporary sculpture. Her recent solo exhibition, Preserve, at Turner Contemporary, Margate, offered a three-decade survey of her work, foregrounding her ongoing exploration of environmental fragility and the precariousness of natural ecosystems.
Gallaccio’s AIDS Memorial is scheduled for unveiling in London in 2027.
Eliza Gluckman, Director of the Government Art Collection, commented, “In the eighth year of this extraordinary partnership with the Robson Orr Foundation, we are delighted to announce Gallaccio’s commission. Her work explores the necessity of oceans to human life and the modes of communication that exist across them. Through translating sound into image, she has created a print that is conceptually rich and materially compelling. We are grateful to the DCA Print Studio for their support.”
Sybil and Matthew Orr added, “Over the course of eight years, the TenTen commissions have travelled globally, sparking dialogue and supporting soft Diplomacy. Anya Gallaccio’s print continues that legacy with striking relevance, evoking the language of whales and the oceans that connect us, reminding us that listening and connecting are vital to Diplomacy, human connection, and our collective future.”
Top Photo: © Artlyst 2025