British Council at the 18th Istanbul Biennial
The British Council is proud to support two UK artists, Jasleen Kaur and Karimah Ashadu, at the 18th Istanbul Biennial (20 September – 23 November 2025). Curated by Christine Tohmé under the title The Three-Legged Cat, this Biennial explores resilience and transformation in a time of global uncertainty.
Jasleen Kaur
Glasgow-born artist Jasleen Kaur (b. 1986) presents My Body is a Temple of Gloom (2021), an installation that transforms the gallery into a distorted wellness retreat. Combining archival yoga footage, sound, and oversized replicas of wellness products, the work questions the ethics and colonial legacies of the global wellness industry.
Drawing on her Sikh heritage and upbringing in Glasgow, Kaur often uses everyday objects and sound to explore cultural inheritance and identity. Winner of the Turner Prize 2024 for her installation Alter Altar, her work has been shown at Tate Britain, Tramway, the Wellcome Collection, and Whitechapel Gallery.
Karimah Ashadu
British-born Nigerian artist and filmmaker Karimah Ashadu (b. 1985, London) presents Machine Boys (2024), her Silver Lion award-winning film from the Venice Biennale. The work follows motorcycle taxi riders (okada) in Lagos, exploring how a government ban affected their livelihoods while reflecting on masculinity, precarity, and survival in a changing city.
Alongside the film, Ashadu shows Wreath (2024), a brass sculpture woven from tyres that suggests commemoration and resilience. Her practice focuses on labour, patriarchy, and independence in Nigeria and its diaspora. She lives and works between Hamburg and Lagos, with recent exhibitions at MoMA PS1, Secession (Vienna), and Kunstverein in Hamburg.
UK artists on a global stage
Through Kaur and Ashadu’s participation, the British Council showcases the diversity of contemporary art from the UK and supports new cultural exchange between the UK, Türkiye, and international audiences.