Born in 1963, Rachel Whiteread studied painting at Brighton Polytechnic and shifted her focus to sculpture as a student at London's Slade School of Fine Art (1985–87). In the early 1990s she began to receive international attention as part of a stylistically diverse group referred to as the Young British Artists. Among her contemporaries, Whiteread has distinguished herself for creating an innovative body of work that reflects a quiet, contemplative spirit, receiving such accolades as the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize in 1993 and a medal at the 1997 Venice Biennale. Throughout Europe and the United States, her work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions in museums and galleries, and she has realized several public art projects. Most recently, in the summer of 2001, her work was featured in a retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery in London, and a public sculpture entitled Monument was unveiled in Trafalgar Square.   Rachel Whiteread. Photo by Gautier Deblonde. © Gautier Deblonde.