Jasleen Kaur Wins the Turner Prize 2024.

On Tuesday evening Jasleen Kaur was awarded the 40th Turner Prize at Tate Britain. Presented by actor James Norton, Kaur delivered a powerful political acceptance speech. She stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people and addressed ethical concerns about the centralised power structure of art institutions restricting artists' freedom of political speech. 

Image by Oliver Cowling via Tate

Kaur was one of four artists nominated this year for instilling a deep connection to oneself, family, and community within the exchange of cultures, values, and ideas. Kaur’s recent body of work Alter Altar, curated by Clair Jackson, explores everyday objects, bringing them to life with sound and music to evoke community and cultural heritage. 

The works displayed at the Turner 2024 exhibition portray improvisation and political mysticism as ways to rethink tradition and inherited myths. Kaur engages with sonic memory and the cultural significance of everyday materials and objects, such as the bright red Ford Escort covered by a four-meter doily. Focusing on themes of assimilation, the installation is accompanied by a soundscape that blends the artist’s voice with the rumble of a car sound system, echoing traditional Sufi music. For Jasleen, her relationship with music goes beyond spirituality—it is a form of resistance, deeply rooted in anti-imperial sentiment. 

The jury considered how Kaur interlinks personal, political and spiritual within her work. The powerful blend of joy and solidarity, alongside resilience and hope, mirrors the collective consciousness of many artists and creatives today, who strive for positive change amid the ongoing horrors of the present. Items like the Axminster carpet, bottles of blessed Irn Bru, political flyers, and family photographs are scattered throughout the gallery, prompting reflection on how political ideologies are both conveyed and hidden within community spaces. 

Alex Farquharson, director of Tate and chair of the jury, described Kaur’s works which “move from the specifics of Kaur’s own background to big diasporic themes of cross-cultural identity.” 

Kaur accepted the distinguished award, thanking her team and collaborators, and the creatives around her  “who advocate for life and not death.” She continued, “I’ve been wondering why artists are required to dream up liberation in the gallery, but when dream means life, we are shut down.” 

Kaur's work delves into the way cultural memory is embedded in the objects and rituals that shape our lives, a process she describes as "making sense of what is out of view or withheld." Much of what lies "out of view" in her exploration concerns the lingering effects of imperialism on the stories and histories we inherit.

The artist closed her speech with a powerful statement, “I want the separation between the expressions of politics in the gallery and the practice of politics in life to disappear. 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.”

The Turner Prize exhibition will be on display at Tate Britain until February 16th 2025.