BALTI Unmeasured Measurements
Balti (ball-tee) noun. 1. A bucket 2. A type of curry
Balti is a series of photographs and film documenting the daily process of cooking Langar in the kitchen of Polloksheilds Sikh Temple in Glasgow. The cooks’ intuitive methods of preparing food in mass quantities, is an unwritten skill known only by a handful of members in the community. Cooking alongside them, Jasleen Kaur recorded their recipes by marking buckets with the volumes of each ingredient to create a series of measuring tools for cooking en masse.
Balti was first screened at various venues during the London Design Festival 2014 from a portable cinema screen designed to fit perfectly into the back of a ZipVan.
Jasleen Kaur is a Scottish Indian artist based in London. Brought up in a traditional Sikh household in Glasgow, her work is an ongoing exploration into the malleability of culture and the layering of social histories within materials and objects. Refashioned objects are often based on instinct and resourcefulness, reflecting a hybridity of national custom and reconsidering the realities of materiality, usage and everyday routine. Her recent commissions include the Victoria & Albert Museum, Goethe Institute, Baltic 39 Figure Three and Art on the Underground. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Royal College of Art and Crafts Council.