OCA Creative Arts: Review of Turner Prize 2024

The aim of the Turner Prize is to provoke debate around contemporary British art. Each year four artists based in Britain are shortlisted by a panel. The selection is based on projects or exhibitions from the past year. This year’s artists are Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur, and Delaine Le Bas. The winner was announced on 3 December 2024, and the exhibition continues until 16 February 2025 at Tate Britain, London.

Stepping into the first room, with dark museum-colored walls, an enormous concrete sculpture of a diamond and pearl bracelet demands attention. Pio Abad materially explores his relation to the stories beneath the surface of colonial collections. Spending time with the varied objects, artworks, and texts helps to unravel the complexities of the layered and nuanced stories and histories being told.

All the while, sounds emitting from the next exhibition space have a gravitational pull. The source of the devotional music, finger cymbals, car stereo, and a harmonium are revealed as the next room opens up.  Jasleen Kaur’s show curates a wide range of objects and references from her Scottish-Indian upbringing. A red Ford Cortina covered by an enormous white doily, an Axminster rug underfoot, with everyday detritus caught in the transparent ceiling above. There is a sense of friction between the objects as they oddly interact without a sense of cohesion. These assembled objects, photographs, and kinetic sculptures appear as material manifestations of memory. Yet there is also a sense of emergence, the possibility of an identity forming itself.

As the connected gallery rooms are open, there is a point at which each space allows the next work to reveal itself. Delaine Le Bas transforms her exhibition space into an immersive installation. The walls are covered and draped with painted calico, organza, which envelop, and metallic surfaces that reflect the audience back into the work, the effect is disorienting and engaging. Her physical presence in the space is clear from the painted footprints to the drips and splatters of paint across the draped fabric. Her work is deeply autobiographical while being blended with issues of feminism and themes from her British-Romani heritage. Symbolism is present throughout the space as she deals with issues of loss and renewal.

And finally, although Claudette Johnson’s work might appear the most traditional in terms of its presentation and material, the stories carried within it pose powerful questions for an audience who cares to spend time with the work. Pietà (2024) has been likened to Bellini’s late work, the Martinengo Pietà (1505). The blue of the mother’s clothing and composition of the two figures, as well as the title, make a clear and direct connection. However, the painted text, which hugs the edges of the frame, refers to an Instagram post made by Johnson following the death of George Floyd. Johnson’s portraits ask the audience to engage with the social, historical, and cultural context of the work as the narratives reveal their weight.

It is clear that each artist in their own way is exploring narratives around origin, identity, loss, and how inherited histories influence our lives. These themes and connected ideas also underpin work created by many of our Creative Arts students as they progress through the degree structure. This year’s Turner prize has much to offer our students to contemplate.

And to those who have refrained from googling it—the winner was Jasleen Kaur.