Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1986 Glasgow, Scotland

Biography

Artist Jasleen Kaur was born in Pollokshields, Glasgow, in 1986, to Indian immigrants who moved from Punjab to Scotland in the-mid 1990s. Growing up in Glasgow, her upbringing was shaped by the intersection of cultures and the influence of her father’s hardware shops. These experiences, combined with her Sikh heritage, have profoundly informed her artistic practice. Kaur pursued her art education at Glasgow School of Art, where she studied jewellery and metalwork, graduating in 2008. Later, she refined her practice at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London, completing her MA in 2013. This dual education in craft and conceptual art is foundational to her approach, which merges materiality with narrative to explore broader social and political themes. Now based in London, Kaur works across sculpture, sound, and video, creating socially engaged art. Her practice draws from everyday aesthetics, integrating objects, materials, and narratives to explore themes of cultural memory, political belonging, and inherited tradition. She has described her work as a means to ‘grapple with things that are out of view or withheld’, reflecting her interest in uncovering hidden histories and silenced voices (Somerset House).

Kaur’s work often renegotiates tradition through improvisation and reimagines the cultural and political ideologies embedded in ordinary objects. Her materials—Axminster carpet, salvaged family photographs, religious ephemera, and even bottles of Irn Bru—serve as signifiers of collective memory and identity. By decontextualising and recombining them, she constructs new narratives that challenge dominant histories. She draws inspiration from jazz musician Asher Gamedze’s idea that ‘tradition emerges through people grappling with their world’, a perspective she finds liberating and central to her process (Greater Govanhill). Food plays a recurring role in Kaur's practice, as seen in Everyday Resistance (2020), where dough became a medium for both communal play and discussions of migration and racism. However, she has also critiqued how food’s cultural significance can be misinterpreted in predominantly white spaces. Community engagement is also a cornerstone of Kaur's practice. Her works frequently emerge from dialogue with marginalised groups, as seen in projects such as Be Like Teflon (2019), a publication developed through conversations with Indian women in the UK. These discussions explored themes of labour, duty, and diaspora, reflecting Kaur's commitment to amplifying voices often excluded from mainstream narratives.

Kaur’s early works, such as Father’s Shoes (2009) and Oil Drum Stools (2010), reflect her intuitive, hands-on approach to making. These pieces, created from found materials, echo her childhood experiences in Glasgow's hardware shops and her formal training in jewellery. In 2016 her work was included in two Ben Uri exhibitions: Unexpected: continuing narratives of identity and migration (in conjunction with Counterpoints Arts) and 100 for 100: Ben Uri: Past, Present & Future at Christie's, South Kensington. Over time, her practice has evolved to include immersive installations and sound art, as exemplified by Alter Altar (2024), her solo exhibition at Tramway, Glasgow. This ambitious project filled the gallery with sculptural and sonic works, weaving local histories with global narratives of colonialism and migration. The show incorporated objects, such as political flyers and a Red Ford car, alongside an automated harmonium, inviting visitors to reconsider inherited myths and traditions. Kaur’s exploration of diasporic identity and collective memory also extends to public commissions. In The Five K’s (2017), she created a series of Axminster carpets referencing Sikh articles of faith, while addressing food culture and communality. Similarly, her project Everyday Resistance (2020) with Serpentine Projects used dough as a medium for discussing migration, racism, and resilience within community workshops.

Deeply rooted in Sikh tradition, Kaur often draws upon concepts like Miri Piri, the balance of the spiritual and political. Her work questions how colonialism and migration have disrupted pluralistic practices, such as the shared devotional music of Sikh and Muslim communities. ‘These histories act as evidence to counter what we think we know and how we practice communality today’, she explains, highlighting her commitment to exploring these interconnected legacies (Greater Govanhill). Kaur is also deeply critical of institutional structures in the art world, particularly the tokenistic approaches to diversity. She has spoken about the challenges of being a woman of colour navigating predominantly white spaces, where gestures of diversity often feel superficial and reductive. ‘There’s a rhetoric around art giving voice to communities, and I think that’s rubbish. We really need to stop thinking we are going to heal anybody with art—the problems are so much bigger than us,’ she argues, calling for more meaningful and ethical approaches to engagement (MiMA).

Kaur is a visiting lecturer at The Royal College of Art and has devised workshops and programmes for institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, Crafts Council, and Art on the Underground. Her teaching and creative workshops, developed for arts organisations and festivals across the UK, reflect her commitment to fostering meaningful dialogue and engagement through art. Kaur was the winner of the 2024 Turner Prize. In the UK public domain her work is represented in the Royal College of Art Collection and Crafts Council Collection.

Related books

Alice Correia, Gut Feelings Meri Jaan: An Exhibition by Jasleen Kaur (Rochdale: Touchstones Rochdale, 2021)
Linsey Young, Amy Emmerson-Martin, Tom Avery, Turner Prize 2024 (London: Tate Publishing, 2021)
The Tending of Something (St Andrews: FCA & C, 2016)

Related organisations

Glasgow School of Art (student)
Royal College of Art (visiting lecturer)
Royal College of Art (student)

Selected exhibitions

Turner Prize 2024, Tate Britain (2024)
Alter Altar, Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland (2023)
Gut Feelings Meri Jaan, Touchstones Rochdale, Rochdale (2021)
Flesh 'n' Blood, Humber Street Gallery, Hull (2021)
Sky Art 50 Weekend, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2019)
Eastside Projects, Birmigham (2019)
Where I Am Is Here, Hollybush Gardens, London (2019)
Be Like Teflon, Glasgow Women's Library, Glasgow, Scotland (2019)
Heartbeat, Touchstones Rochdale, Rochdale (2019)
Idea Home Show: A Room of Our Own - MIMA, Middlesborough (2017)
British Ceramics Biennial, The Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent (2017)
Synthetic Landscapes, Weston Park, Meadow Arts, Shropshire (2017)
Houses are really Bodies, Cubitt, London (2017)
Collecting Europe, V&A Museum, London (2017)
The Tending of Something, Fife Contemporary Art & Craft, St Andrews Museum (2016)
100 for 100, Ben Uri: Past, Present & Future, Christie's London (2016)
Unexpected: continuing narratives of identity and migration, Ben Uri Gallery, London (2016)
Jerwood Makers Open 2015 Tour, Jerwood Space, London (2015)
A Place at the Table, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (2014)
The Special Relationship, SCP, London (2013)
Object Abuse, KK Outlet, London (2011)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Jasleen Kaur]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Jasleen Kaur artist