Jasleen Kaur, a Scottish artist of Indian origin, has won the prestigious Turner Prize 2024 for her exhibition “Altar Altar”, which explores themes of plurality, personal and political.
The jury, chaired by Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson, praised Kaur’s “thoughtful way of choreographing a visual and auditory experience that suggests both personal, political and spiritual… unity and joy”. It also highlighted Kaur’s “ability to gather diverse voices through an unexpected and playful combination of materials”.
At 38, Kaur was the youngest nominee for this year’s award which carries a cash prize of £25,000. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the award. Other shortlisted artists included Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaney Le Bas.
Born in Glasgow, Kaur’s grandfather migrated from Punjab in 1950, three years after Partition. His father owns a hardware store in Scotland. Her award-winning exhibition “Altar Altar”, first shown in Glasgow last year, also reflects her own family history as an immigrant to Scotland and her upbringing.
It featured, among others, a vintage red Ford Escort covered with a large crocheted doily, a reference to her father’s migratory aspirations, worship bells, Irn-Bru orange resin, an Axminster carpet, and family photographs. Soundtracks from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Bob Marley were also played during Kaur’s growing up years.
In several interviews, Kaur often discussed her multicultural upbringing and influences. If her 2021 series, “Got Feelings Mary Jane,” in 2018’s “I Keep Telling Them These Stories” explored ideas about legacy and ownership, history and archives, she used archival footage and recordings collected from India and Scotland to explore culture. . Practice, family, identity and origins. Her 2019 publication, “Be Like Teflon”, commissioned by the Panel for Glasgow Women’s Library, includes conversations between Kaur and women of Indian heritage living in the UK.
Turner Prize
Since it was established in 1984, the Turner Prize has emerged as the most prestigious art award. Recognizing the work of British artists, it seeks to highlight recent developments in contemporary British art. Indian origin British actor Anish Kapoor won this award in 1991.
Her website describes her as: “An artist who makes life slow. Raised among betrayal, secrecy and exiled outsiders, her work is to understand what is out of sight or withheld. She is called to multiplicity, declassification, polyphony, blur. She practices singing in the sediment until she becomes intoxicated. She is doing it.”
In an interview on the Tate website, Kaur says: “There’s this particular doctrine that I grew up with in the Sikh tradition that talks about miri piri, which is this political and spiritual balance. I’m really interested in that duality and I’m very in touch with this particular point in my lineage. I have gone crazy where devotional practices were done for hundreds of years, but the violence of the border, the violence of colonialism, so many things have affected it. And I’m crazy about it because it tells me it’s a different way to be together.
In his acceptance speech for the award on Tuesday, the Royal College of Art alumnus called for a ceasefire in Gaza, an end to institutional complicity in Israel’s genocide and an arms embargo. He is one of the signatories of a letter demanding that Tate sever ties with organizations deeply involved with the Israeli regime. “This is not a radical demand … it should not jeopardize the artist’s career or safety,” she said in her speech.