Turner prize awarded four ways after artists' plea to judges

The joint winners, from left: Tai Shani, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock and Oscar Murillo. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

All four artists shortlisted for the 2019 Turner prize have been named winners after they came together and made a plea for judges to recognise the causes of “commonality, multiplicity and solidarity”.

At a ceremony in Margate on Tuesday evening, Turner prize history was made when Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani were named the collective winner after they jointly wrote to judges.

Each of the artists, who had never met each other before being shortlisted, will get a quarter share of the £40,000 prize pot.

At the event, Cammock read out a joint statement on stage. In it the artists referred to the significance of the Turner prize – which is for a British artist working in Britain – seeking to “expand what it means to be British”, and said their work sought to take a stand against isolation and exclusion in a hostile environment with a “symbolic gesture of cohesion”.