Scotland-born Sikh artist Jasleen Kaur, whose solo exhibition ‘Alter Altar’ at Tramway in Glasgow was nominated for the 2024 Turner Prize, opened to the public at Tate Britain in London this week.
Rethinking tradition, Kaur creates sculptures from gathered and remade objects, each animated through an immersive sound composition. Items including family photos, a harmonium, Axminster carpet and kinetic worship bells are orchestrated to convey the artist’s upbringing in Glasgow.
A central feature is music, which is used to explore both inherited and hidden histories. Yearnings 2023, an improvised vocal soundscape of the artist’s voice, is then layered over snippets of pop songs playing from the speakers of ‘Sociomobile 2023’ – a vintage Ford Escort covered with a large doily crocheted from cotton and filling the space with Kaur’s own musical memory.
Linsey Young, Curator of Contemporary British Art at Tate Britain, said: “Jasleen Kaur was born in 1986 in Glasgow and studied silversmithing at Glasgow School of Art and then studied Applied Art at the Royal College of Art in London. We certainly see that design training and seeing objects as individual moments but also as a broader whole in this exhibition.
“She works across sculpture, installation, sound and text and uses a wide range of material to explore cultural memory and political belonging. Considered together, the works explore sonic memory, cultural, familial and political histories, and the way in which political ideologies are carried through into community spaces.”
Kaur is shortlisted alongside three other British artists:
Pio Abad presents a restaging of his nominated exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, which explores cultural loss and colonial histories.
Claudette Johnson presents a series of works from her nominated exhibitions at The Courtauld Gallery, London, and Ortuzar Projects, New York, alongside new works.
Delaine Le Bas presents a restaging of her nominated exhibition at the Secession, Vienna.
Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain and chair of the Turner Prize jury said: “This year’s artists each make vibrant and varied work that reflects not just their personal memories and familial stories, but also speaks to wider questions of identity, myth, belonging and community.
“Through their varied practices, they offer us a lens through which to reconsider both our tangled histories and our shared futures.”
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One of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts, the Turner Prize aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art. Established in 1984, the prize is named after the radical English painter J.M.W. Turner and is awarded each year to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work.
The Turner Prize winner will be awarded £25,000, with £10,000 awarded to each of the other shortlisted artists, at a Tate Britain ceremony on December 3. The exhibition of the shortlisted works will run until mid-February 2025.
*Info: Turner Prize at Tate Britain