Jasleen Kaur is the winner of the 2024 Turner Prize, which awards the artist GBP£25,000. Kaur was chosen from a shortlist including Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaine Le Bas.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1986, Kaur studied Silversmithing and Jewellery at Glasgow School of Art in 2008 and Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery at the Royal College of Art, London in 2009-10.
In her review of Kaur’s exhibition at Tramway, Glasgow, for which the artist received her nomination, Phoebe Cripps described how ‘Kaur’s sculpture, photography, sound and writing are threaded … with the sense of a lineage – of families and peoples, tied together across continents. She selects everyday objects and materials as cultural witnesses to interwoven communities in Britain, and specifically to Glasgow’s Pollokshields, near Tramway, where she grew up.’
Established in 1984, the prize is awarded each year to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work.
Kaur accepted her award onstage wearing a scarf in Palestinian colours and concluded her speech with ‘Free Palestine’. She also stated her support for protestors who had gathered outside Tate Britain, where the ceremony was being held, with activists calling on the gallery to cut ties with donors who have ‘economic and ideological’ links to the Israeli government.
The 2024 jury comprises Rosie Cooper, director of Wysing Arts Centre; Ekow Eshun, writer, broadcaster and curator; Sam Thorne, director and CEO at Japan House London; and the curator and art historian Lydia Yee – all chaired by Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson.
An exhibition of the shortlisted artists is on at Tate Britain through 16 February 2025.
