Is the Turner Prize having a mid-life crisis?

Britain’s biggest art prize is back in London. The four nominated artists all have a lot to say, but will it be enough to lure the crowds?

Installation view of Jasleen Kaur, Alter Altar at Tramway, Glasgow 2023. Courtesy of Tramway and Glasgow Life. Photo: Keith Hunter

The Turner Prize, now celebrating its 40th year, may have a mid-life crisis on its hands.

In the 1980s it was the cool kid who brought the public’s attention to contemporary British art. Nominees and winners included Gilbert & George and Paula Rego. In the 1990s it was an edgy teen who couldn’t care less what the ‘grown ups’ thought as it embraced the controversial. Along came Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Chris Ofili. Then in the 2000s it turned into a well-adjusted, yet still hip, young adult. Think Grayson Perry and Yinka Shonibare. In the 2010s, it lost its edge. Did it become too serious, too clever, too predictable, like… an adult?

After several years showing in other parts of the UK, the Turner Prize exhibition is once again back where it all started, at Tate Britain. The museum surely has high hopes for the show, which is now much larger in terms of space. There’s also quite a lot to take in: for some works there are detailed texts to explain the pieces and the subjects raised are challenging and not straightforward. Nothing is too controversial, so you can bring the kids. But don’t expect a fun day out.

Pio Abad, I am singing a song that can only be borne after losing a country, 2023. Red coloured pencil and carbon transfer on heritage wood free paper, 2400 x 1750 mm. Courtesy the artist © Pio Abad.

In the first room Pio Abad takes on the museum world. Who possesses the objects, why, how are they catalogued, who has access to them? Most importantly, what do these objects and their locations tell us? A lot, they tell us a lot. But who is there to listen? Pio Abad is, and he wants you to hear the stories too.

How about a Powhatan’s Mantle, a deer hide robe from the founding collection of the Ashmolean Museum? It is linked to Pocahontas, as it was her father who (‘supposedly’ as the caption points out) gave it as a gift to King James I. It marked the first contact between the Native American people and the British settler colonialists. That is to say, it marks the beginning of the erasure of the Native American people. Pio Abad made a copy of the Mantle on paper and painted over it with red lines – are they rivers of blood, are they ‘bleeding borders’? He makes it into an imaginary map for the real lands that were stolen and can never be recovered.

Installation view of Pio Abad's room at Turner Prize 2024, Tate Britain. Photo by Aliya de Tiesenhausen

Heavy stuff? You bet. Some quite literally. Imelda Marcos’s ill-gained jewellery gets a revamp. Her 30-carat ruby, diamond and pearl bracelet lies in state as an enormous copy in concrete in the middle of the gallery. (Together with her other jewellery, it was confiscated and has not been on public view since.)

In his prints, Abad juxtaposes the ‘kidnapped’ artefacts that are housed at the British Museum with objects in his own home – some of which are products of complex economic exchanges with roots in colonialism. Even though there is a general text explaining how this project came about – in the pandemic isolation – more detailed information on each pairing of stolen/personal object isn’t given. The curator mentioned a couple to us, including the Benin Bronzes, but unless you are a British Museum afficionado, you may not be the wiser by just looking at the images.

Installation view of Jasleen Kaur's room at Turner Prize 2024, Tate Britain. Photo by Aliya de Tiesenhausen

In the next room Jasleen Kaur has laid out a carpet and hung the sky. There is also a red car with a giant doily on top of it. Various objects around the expansive room are making sounds. Similarly to Abad, she links everyday objects to wider histories – especially of immigrant experience. Objects lie on top of the plastic sky above the visitors’ heads. From Scottish £1 notes to a tracksuit and glow-in-the-dark prayer beads, they all seem to possess strong connotations for those whom the artist represents. I am pretty sure my parents had a carpet with the exact same pattern as the one in this room. I have no associations with any other objects. We can see a list of them on the wall, but I guess I would need to talk to the artist directly to understand what each one means.

Installation view of Delaine Le Bas's room at Turner Prize 2024, Tate Britain. Photo by Aliya de Tiesenhausen

Delaine Le Bas’s three rooms are an immersive theatrical experience. There are painted sheer floating fabrics, tent-like structures, reflective surfaces and links to the Greek goddesses. It feels like a performance is about to take place. Le Bas uses performance in her practice. But here the visitor is a performer or subject to the transformative journey the artist wants them to take. She is concerned with all the chaos that defines the world today. The words you are left with at the end of the experience are Pythia’s “Know Thyself”.

Claudette Johnson, Friends in Green + Red on Yellow, 2023. Oil paint, oil pastel and oil stick on paper. Private collection. Photo by Aliya de Tiesenhausen

If someone knows themself in this show, it is Claudette Johnson. Her portraits are right in your face and yet comforting. One of her aims is to address the way Black bodies are presented in art – both historically and today. She paints herself, her family and friends – and even though the works are monumental in both their scale and execution – they radiate love for their sitters. In her drawings too, the individual’s identity may be unknown to us, but it is not invisible. Filling almost the entire space of the paper or canvas, her figures nevertheless don’t feel forced into a frame.

Will the works resonate with you? Will they provoke a conversation – either internal or with a friend? Which one will inspire you to know more? I think, despite the abundance of information available, we are still left needing to know more to appreciate some of the works on display. To answer these questions, you will need to go and see them for yourself. Which one should win the prize? Which one will?

Turner Prize is at Tate Britain, London until 16 February 2025