The 2026 Film London Jarman Award shortlist invites us to step back, look again and change our point of view. The shortlisted artists present work that is brave, poetic and uniquely experimental in its approach. Storytelling, family relationships and oral histories intertwine with home movies, archival footage and abstract images in works that explore migration, identity, and intergenerational trauma.
A total of £1.6 million, formed of £800,000 from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and £800,000 matched by arts access charity Art Explora, will be used to build a state-of-the-art vehicle and tour three national collections per year, including the Government Art Collection (GAC).
There is something undeniably captivating about an oil painting on canvas—the way light catches the texture of brushstrokes, the luminous depth of layered pigments, and the sense that you are witnessing a conversation between artist and material that has unfolded over hours, days, or even weeks.