ARTIST and sculptor Rachel Whiteread has been chosen for a special award from Oxford University.

She has been recognised for her work by The Edgar Wind Society for History of Art.

Ms Whiteread accepted the award last week at Modern Art Oxford, fresh from her solo exhibition at Tate Britain, and 25 years since she became the first ever female Turner Prize winner.

The award aims to encourage engagement with the History of Art, to promote involvement beyond academic study.

The Honorary Membership for Outstanding Contribution to Visual Culture was founded in 2016 by Oli Lloyd-Parry, the then incoming President.

He said: “The award seeks to honour outstanding contemporary artists, in recognition that current work is contributing to the evolving body of work that constitutes art history, and that contemporary art can equal art of the past.”