Tuesday night was a historical moment for the world of contemporary art.

For the first time in history, a black artist won the Turner Prize, the most prestigious art award in the United Kingdom. And she did it with a work that pays homage to African culture and denounces the effects of colonialism and racism.

The winner is Lubaina Himid, an artist, and art teacher born in Zanzibar, Tanzania, 63 years ago, whose colorful paintings stand out for treating racism and the legacies of slavery.

The artist - who currently resides in Preston, in the North of England, where she teaches pottery and art - said she was surprised by the award, since "I've always been ignored by critics, exhibition curators and institutions, but never by artists," El Mundo reported.

The jury decided to reward her for the "vitality of her work" and "the seriousness of the issues she deals with, which are very relevant today," said Tate Britain museum director and president of the award jury, Alex Farquharson.

These issues are, among others, "the legacy of colonialism and the different forms that racism takes," the president added, quoted by the EFE news agency.

Lubaina Himid works with diverse techniques, mainly engravings, paintings and installations with diverse materials. Among her best-known works is the painting "Modern marriage" (1987), where sarcasm joins with social and political denunciation, observes the newspaper, El Mundo. The painting is inspired by a work by William Hogarth and the figures by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

Last February, the British newspaper Daily Telegraph described Himid as "the undervalued hero of British art." According to the BBC, the artist began to be known in the 80s as part of the "black" movement.