Turner Prize winner Jasleen Kaur calls for Gaza ceasefire in acceptance speech

The artist wore a Palestinian flag to accept award and has signed an open letter urging Tate galleries to sever ties with organisations 'complicit with Israel'

Jasleen Kaur is announced as the winner of the Turner Prize at Tate Britain, in London. AP

Turner Prize winner Jasleen Kaur called for a ceasefire in Gaza as she accepted the prestigious art award at a ceremony in London.

The youngest artist shortlisted this year, 36-year-old Kaur's work focuses on her Scottish Sikh identity, explored through everyday objects including a vintage Ford car covered in a crocheted doily.

She expressed support for pro-Palestinian protesters outside the Tate Britain gallery where the award ceremony was taking place. “From where I am now, I want to echo the calls of the protesters outside,” Kaur said. “A protest made up of artists, culture workers, Tate staff, students, who I stand firmly with.”

Kaur was wearing a Palestinian flag during her speech on Tuesday night and referenced an open letter signed by workers and practitioners in the creative industries calling for the Tate, which runs a number of British galleries, to sever ties with “organisations complicit in what the UN and ICJ are finally getting closer to seeing is a genocide of the Palestinian people”.

The letter, which has more than 1,500 signatures, urges the Tate to “take a clear stance against the artwashing of genocide and apartheid” and to cut ties with particular art organisations “that are deeply complicit” with the Israeli regime.

“This is not a radical demand,” she said. “This should not risk an artist's career or safety. We are trying to build consensus that the ties to these organisations are unethical.”

The Turner Prize is regarded as one of the art world’s most prestigious accolades and is awarded to an artist born or working in Britain for an exhibition of their work from the previous year. Also shortlisted were London-based Filipino visual artist Pio Abad, British visual artist Claudette Johnson and British Romani artist Delaine Le Bas. Their work spanned themes including identity politics, nationalism and colonialism.

Kaur ended her speech by saying expressing concepts around social justice and politics should not be confined to gallery spaces. “I’ve been wondering why artists are required to dream up liberation in the gallery but when that dream meets life, we are shut down,” she said.

“I want the separation between the expression of politics in the gallery and the practice of politics in life to disappear. I want the institution to understand that if you want us inside you need to listen to us outside. We needed a ceasefire a very long time ago. We need a proper ceasefire now. Arms embargo now. Free Palestine.”