2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the Turner Prize - arguably one of the most prestigious prizes in the visual arts. This accolade is awarded each year to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or presentation of their work.
Established in 1984, and named after pioneering painter, JMW Turner, this prize not only comes with a thoroughly respectable cash prize but it propels the winner onto the international stage, giving them a place in art history alongside previous winners such as, Damien Hirst, Grayson Perry and Anish Kapoor.
This year’s shortlist was just announced by Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain and chair of the Turner Prize jury. Each of the four nominees was selected for their exploration of, “questions of identity, autobiography, community and self in relation to memory or history or myth”.
In today’s blog, we’re taking a look at the artists in the running to take home the 2024 Turner Prize…
Jasleen Kaur
Scottish artist, Jasleen Kaur, has been nominated for Alter Altar – her solo exhibition held at Tramway in Glasgow.
Jasleen Kaur. Image credit: Photography by Robin Christian.
Kaur’s show featured sculptures created from everyday objects, such as a vintage Ford Escort, cans of Irn-Bru and family photographs. By combining her sculptures with sound, Kaur explored cultural inheritance, family memory and what it was like growing up within Glasgow’s Sikh community.
Speaking of Kaur’s show, Turner Prize juror, Rosie Cooper, stated:
“Freedom, that idea of what that might mean individually and collectively was a really strong theme running throughout the exhibition. The jury felt that this significant breakthrough show was generous, celebratory, moving, and alive to timely issues, speaking imaginatively to how we might live together in a world increasingly marked by nationalism, division, and social control.”
Installation view of Jasleen Kaur, Alter Altar at Tramway, Glasgow in 2023. Photo: Keith Hunter, courtesy of Tramway and Glasgow Life.
Pio Abad
Pio Abad is a Filipino-British artist, nominated for his solo exhibition, To Those Sitting in Darkness, held at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.
Photo courtesy of Pio Abad
In his show, Abad combined drawing, etchings and sculptures depicting, juxtaposing and transforming artefacts from Oxford museums, to highlight the artefacts’ overlooked histories and to draw parallels with typical household items.
This year’s jury were won over by the precision with which Abad combined detailed research with new artistic work to consider cultural loss and colonial history while asking important questions of museums and their role in society.
Pio Abad ,1897.76.36.18.6, 2023. India ink and screen print on heritage wood free paper. Courtesy the artist. © Pio Abad
Delaine Le Bas
For her show, Incipit Vita Nova. Here Begins The New Life/A New Life Is Beginning at Secession, Vienna, Worthing’s own Delaine Le Bas transformed the gallery into an immersive performative environment filled with sculptures, theatrical costumes and hung painted fabrics.
Photo © Tara Darby. Courtesy of the artist.
Drawing on the rich cultural history of the Roma people and her fascination with mythology, Le Bas addressed themes of death, loss and renewal, inspired by the passing of her grandmother. Turner Prize judges were impressed with the bold immediacy of the exhibition, and its depiction of how powerful it is to make art in times of chaos.
Incipit Vita Nova by Delaine Le Bas. Photograph: Iris Ranzinger/Courtesy of Secession, Vienna.
Claudette Johnson
Finally, Claudette Johnson is being celebrated for not one, but two, solo exhibitions - Presence at The Courtauld Gallery in London, and Drawn Out at Ortuzar Projects in New York.
Photo © Anne Tetzlaff
Johnson’s tender figurative portraits of her family and friends serve as a counterbalance to the marginalisation of Black people in Western art history.
This year’s judges shortlisted Johnson as they felt both shows represented a milestone in her practice, and were struck by her sensitive and dramatic use of line, colour, space and scale to express empathy and intimacy with her subjects.
Installation view of “Claudette Johnson: Presence” at The Courtauld Gallery in 2023. Photo: David Bebber. Courtesy of the artist and Hollybush Gardens, London, © The Courtauld
And the winner is…
Each year, the Turner Prize is marked with a combined exhibition of the work of each of the shortlisted artists.
Typically, this exhibition moves to a different museum or gallery around the UK but as 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the prize, the exhibition is returning to the Tate Britain in London.
The show opens on September 25th, and the winner of the 2024 Turner Prize will be announced on December 3rd 2024.
