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BALTI Unmeasured Measurements

Filming and photography by Rachel Louise Brown. All images courtesy of Jasleen Kaur and Rachel Louise Brown.

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.

Balti1 Min
Balti 3 Min
Screen Shot 2014 08 29 At 17 55 11
Jasleen Kaur

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.