Alter Altar by Jasleen Kaur, who has been shortlisted for 2024's Turner prize. Photograph courtesy Tate Britain
Glasgow-born artist Jasleen Kaur has been named the winner of the 2024 Turner Prize. Considered the UK’s most prestigious award in the field of the visual arts, the prize is attended by a £25,000 purse (about $31,500). Kaur, who grew up amid her city’s Sikh community and studied silversmithing and jewelry at Glasgow School of Art before attending London’s Royal College of Art, was honored for work examining themes of identity and community via mundane objects. Her winning exhibition, “Alter Altar” at Glasgow’s Tramway gallery, included a bright red Ford Escort draped with a monstrous doily, commenting on the plight of Indians who migrated to the UK and wound up toiling in textile factories. The show additionally incorporated elements such as family photos, an Axminster carpet, and handbells.
Kaur received the prize at a ceremony taking place at Tate Britain on the evening of December 3. She was praised by the judges for her exhibition’s “visual and aural experience that suggests both solidarity and joy.” Draped in the Palestinian flag, the artist noted, “Something like this that is so visible means a lot to a lot of different people. It means something to different groups and I’m up [for] representing all of them.” Kaur used her platform to call for the recognition of artists’ political voices and for a cessation of Israel’s war in Gaza. “I want the separation between the expression of politics in the gallery and the practice of politics in life to disappear,” she said. “I want the institution to understand: If you want us inside, you need to listen to us outside. Ceasefire now, arms embargo now, free Palestine.”
Kaur bested a shortlist that included Filipino artist Pio Abad, known for a wide-ranging practice critiquing colonial histories and cultural loss; Claudette Johnson, acclaimed for her large-scale pastel drawings of Black women; and Delaine Le Bas, an artist of Romany heritage whose immersive environments investigate themes of nationhood, belonging, and gender. Abad, Johnson, and Le Bas will each receive £10,000. An exhibition of the work of all four artists is on view at Tate Britain through February 16, 2025.
