Pro-Palestine artist Jasleen Kaur wins Turner prize 2024
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The Turner Prize is awarded to a British-born or working artist for an outstanding exhibition or presentation of their work in the previous year.
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Jasleen Kaur is announced as the winner of the Turner Prize 2024 at Tate Britain in London on December 3, 2024. (AP)
Jasleen Kaur, winner of the 2024 Turner Prize, made her mark not only with her thought-provoking art but also with her powerful pro-Palestine stance.
Her work centers around animating common items to express the diversity of identity and community.
The Turner Prize, recognized as one of the most prestigious honors in the art world, is given to an artist born or working in Britain for an outstanding exhibition or presentation of their work in the preceding year.
Kaur, 38, the youngest artist on this year's shortlist, was nominated for her installation Alter Altar at Tramway in Glasgow, which included sculptures and soundscapes and will be awarded £25,000 ($ 31,762) in prize money.
A red Ford Escort draped in a massive doily was among the objects featured, a nod to her father's first vehicle as well as Indians who moved to Britain and worked in textile mills.
Ahead of her event, pro-Palestine demonstrators gathered outside, while the artist, dressed in a Palestinian flag, called for a ceasefire, an arms embargo on "Israel", and the Tate to sever ties with organizations linked to the Israeli regime, urging that political expression in galleries should align with real-world actions.
She voiced her frustration at why artists are "required to dream up liberation in the gallery, but when that dream means life, we are shut down,"
The artist declared, "If you want us inside, you need to listen to us outside," emphasizing the need for political expression in galleries to align with real-world actions.
Ceasefire now, arms embargo now, free Palestine," she declared.
The artist was raised in Glasgow's Sikh community in Pollokshields and has previously defined her technique as "making sense of what is out of view or withheld."
This year's selection was dominated by themes of colonialism, nationalism, and identity politics, reflecting the growing participation of BAME artists in museum and gallery exhibitions following the Black Lives Matter campaign.
