December 9, 2024 15:47 IST
First published: December 9, 2024 at 15:44 IST
Announcing Indian-born Scottish artist Jasleen Kaur as the winner of the 2024 Turner Prize, the jury “admired her ability to gather diverse voices through an unexpected and playful juxtaposition of materials”. Their references indicate Kaur’s distinctive art practice that is marked by a rich tapestry of diverse influences and fluid cultural identities.
Born and raised in Glasgow, Kaur spent her childhood in a household where tradition was preserved and nurtured. His grandfather had migrated from Punjab to the United Kingdom in the 1950s, but ties to the motherland remained strong. “An artist who builds with the cheek of life. Raised in the midst of betrayal, secrecy and exiled outsiders, her work is to understand what is out of view or withheld. She is called towards multiplicity, declassification, polyphony, blur,” Kaur’s website describes her.
This complex cultural fusion is perhaps most poignantly expressed in her work, where autobiographical elements accompany her quest to reconnect with her personal heritage across continents. For his degree show at the Royal College of Art in London in 2010, he created “Chai Tea Shop”A mobile tea shop with small clay cups. Displayed as a conceptual artefact, for her community, it was also a familiar touchstone – Kaur’s way of bringing India’s tea-drinking street culture to Britain. His 2016 single “The Tending of Something” questioned the boundaries between art and craft; For the 2021 filmed performance piece “Got Feelings Mary Jane”, she invited Rochdale residents to respond to the “Ethnic Minorities” section of the local history archives at Touchstones Museum and Art Gallery.
The series that earned him the prestigious Turner Prize, “Alter Alter,” explores his upbringing as part of an Indian family in Scotland. By reimagining everyday objects and imbuing them with renewed significance, her work challenges traditional perspectives and celebrates alternative modes of perception. Pooja bells feature prominently in a series of kinetic sculptures, while Scottish iron-brew soda bottles evoke memories of his favorite gurudwara meals. A harmonium—an instrument on which he learned devotional music from his father—is placed on the floor, evoking a sense of personal history. The attention-grabbing centerpiece is a red Ford Escort, draped with a hand-crocheted dolly. While the car symbolized her father’s first vehicle and his migratory aspirations, the four-meter dolly powerfully connected material culture to the legacy of the British Empire, the cotton trade, and the migration of labor from the colonies to British textile mills after World War II. Playing in the background were soundtracks that shaped his childhood, from the Sufi music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to the reggae rhythms of Bob Marley, blending his influences into a rich aural landscape.
While accepting the Turner Prize, Kaur, 38, reflected that she lacked “cultural access” when she was growing up, but the landscape has changed. She continued, “I’ve had so many messages today from people in the local Sikh community and from the people I grew up with… something like this means so much to so many different people… it means so much to so many different groups. And I’m ready to represent all of them. am.”
The world is now more interconnected than Indian modernists traveled to the West, returning to India with a transformed perspective. For the current generation of diasporic artists—many of whom belong to second- or third-generation migrant families—their artistic lens is shaped by a deep urge for inward reflection. They are not a cohesive band, but their shared urge to explore their diasporic identities binds them together. Kaur’s victory is also their victory, because she embodies every aspect of their experience, but one of them. It is anticipated that his recognition will stimulate more interest in the themes they explore. Together, they embody a broader, evolving conversation about the complexities of race, heritage, and contemporary identity.
The jury, chaired by Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson, praised Kaur for the “thoughtful way” she “weaves together the personal, the political and the spiritual”. His moment of triumph was a natural extension of this approach. Dressed in the colors of the Palestinian flag, she issued a powerful call for a ceasefire in the Middle East, expressing her solidarity with protesters gathered outside the venue. He also called for institutional involvement in Israel’s war on Gaza and an end to the arms embargo. One of the signatories of a letter demanding that Tate sever ties with organizations deeply involved with the Israeli regime, she added, “This is not a radical demand … it should not risk an artist’s career or safety.”