Hilary Lloyd’s work is rather understated and urbane. So how come she’s a Turner Prize nominee? As part of a special Culture series, Tamzin Lewis introduces the first of four artists shortlisted for art’s biggest prize

THE Turner Prize brings to mind controversy and outrage; elephant poo, porn and condoms. But this year it is oh, so elegant. And for proof of all this refined sophistication, take a look at film and video artist Hilary Lloyd.

Her work is so enigmatic and subtle that printed images of her repetitive videos can’t do them justice. You really do have to join the queue and see it yourself to get an idea of what she is up to.

I had a few minutes to chat with her at the Baltic’s media event but I’m still not really clear on where she’s coming from. However, I think the key might lie with her traditional artistic background painting, drawing and especially making collages.

“I have always made a lot of collages,” she says. “And these films are fundamentally about cutting and about putting this next to this and seeing what you can do when you put different things together.”

She adds: “I wanted to do things which looked like this, possibly in any medium. But the camera is brilliant. I find it exciting and a very direct way of working.”

Hilary, 46, was born in Halifax, attended Northumbria Polytechnic and now lives and works in London. She had a big solo show at Raven Row, a grand contemporary arts centre in Spitalfields last year, for which she was nominated for the Turner Prize.

The titles she uses tend to be unpretentious and indicative of her minimalist style. Moon, Shirt and Tower Block really are films of the moon, a shirt and a tower block. She isn’t pulling the wool over your eyes, but you might still emerge from her show feeling slightly baffled.