At The Glasgow School of Art’s (GSA) Graduation today (11 July), two notable figures, both former undergraduates of the School, were awarded honorary doctorates in recognition of their outstanding contributions to fine art, design, and architecture.
Jasleen Kaur, artist and winner of the 2024 Turner Prize, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters. A GSA graduate in Silversmithing & Jewellery (2008), Kaur is celebrated for her innovative and interdisciplinary work exploring cultural memory, diasporic identity, and colonial histories. Her practice, rooted in her Sikh upbringing in Glasgow’s Pollokshields, spans sculpture, installation, sound, and video.
“It was unexpected, but a total honour to be awarded the Honorary Doctorate this year, especially as Glasgow and The Glasgow School of Art are such significant places to me,” said Kaur.
“They are both places that have shaped me, and I think often of how fortunate I am to have had access to free education, which was totally life-changing.”
Professor Penny Macbeth, Director and Principal of The Glasgow School of Art, said:
“Today marks a key moment for our graduates as they move forward into the next stage of their creative careers, equipped with skills they have learned during their time here at The Glasgow School of Art and applying them in new roles across the creative sector.
“This year’s honorary doctorates are exemplars of the impact and legacy that our global creative network of graduates can make, demonstrating the value of creative education and the importance that creative people can make in setting the pace, in asking challenging questions, and in offering positive solutions.
“We are proud to award the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in recognition of the outstanding success they have each achieved in their respective fields, expanding their research and creative practices to international significance and acclaim. Jasleen Kaur is the seventh GSA graduate to win the prestigious Turner Prize. Her interdisciplinary practice explores how we define ourselves and preserve and challenge our traditions. Architect and teacher Hiroaki Kimura has made a significant global contribution to research and knowledge related to Mackintosh, through a long and remarkable relationship with the institution that has spanned over 40 years.”
Professor Stephen Bottomley, Head of the GSA’s School of Design, added:
“Jasleen Kaur was the winner of the 2024 Turner Prize and a graduate from the GSA’s world-class BA (Hons) Silversmithing and Jewellery programme, one of the original subjects taught at The Glasgow School of Art’s first incarnation as Glasgow Government School of Design, founded in 1845.
“Our graduates run businesses, work in industry, and lead or teach on the UK’s leading design programmes. This year, it is especially fitting that we celebrate the practice and standing of one of the world’s most respected artists and inspirational teachers in art and design.”
Hiroaki Kimura, Japanese architect and researcher, was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters for his lifelong dedication to the study and promotion of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Kimura began his Mackintosh research while studying in Glasgow and has since spent over four decades documenting and sharing Mackintosh’s legacy with audiences in Japan and worldwide.
“While practising and teaching over the last forty years, first in Kobe and subsequently at the Kyoto Institute of Technology, Hiroaki has never ceased to be interested in the studies he began as a student here at The Glasgow School of Art, or the opportunities that those studies opened to him,” said Professor Sally Stewart, Head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture.
“He has fostered and consolidated connections between artists, architects and patrons, between our institutions, professional bodies, and creative communities. Over regular visits to the School, he has recorded the changes to The Glasgow School of Art – occupied and in use, at work and at play, injured, renovated and once again damaged. The art school building has become a close friend. His documentation of this remains unparalleled, as does his knowledge of both the mystery and achievements of Mackintosh—an architect from another time but with continuing relevance.”
Top Students Also Announced
In addition to the honorary degrees, Anna Lewis, a graduate of Sculpture & Environmental Art, was awarded the 2025 Newbery Medal, the School’s highest undergraduate honour. Her work delicately explores memory, materiality, and the ephemeral through sculpture, textiles, sound, and text.
“Anna creates extraordinary objects that are beautifully and precisely crafted,” said Martin Newth, Head of the School of Fine Art. “She brings the same careful attention to detail to arranging the varied pieces in her evocative and deeply enigmatic installations. Anna is a wonderful artist whose work is hard to categorise and offers exactly the kind of challenge that makes it so compelling.”
Other finalists for the Newbery Medal each received a Chair’s Medal:
- Iestyn Howorth (Product Design)
- Emelie Christina Fraser (Architecture)
- Duoduo Lin, (Silversmithing + Jewellery)
For Further information please contact press@gsa.ac.uk.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About Jasleen Kaur
Jasleen Kaur (born 1986 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish-Indian multidisciplinary artist renowned for her inventive sculptures, installations, sound art, and socially engaged practice. She graduated from the Silversmithing and Jewellery department at Glasgow School of Art in 2008 and completed further studies in Applied Art at the Royal College of Art, London, in 2010.
Growing up in a traditional Sikh household in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow, Kaur’s work deeply reflects her diasporic identity and cultural heritage.
Kaur’s art explores the “social life of objects,” using everyday materials and ready-mades to investigate themes of cultural memory, colonial histories, and community. Jasleen describes herself as “an artist making with the slurry of life. Raised amidst betrayal, secrecy, and banished outsiders, her work is to make sense of what is out of view or withheld. She is called towards plurality, declassifications, polyphony, the blur. She is practising singing in the sediment till she is intoxicated.”
Her installation Alter Altar (2023), exhibited at Glasgow’s Tramway, combined personal and cultural artefacts—such as family photos, a classic Ford Escort draped in a doily, choral voices, and bottles of Irn-Bru to reflect on Scottish Sikh identity and communal histories – won her the 2024 Turner Prize, marking her as the youngest nominee and winner of this prestigious British art prize.
Kaur’s work has been exhibited at Tate Britain (2024), Tramway, Scotland (2023), Touchstones Rochdale (2021), Wellcome Collection, London (2021), Serpentine Civic, London (2020), Glasgow Women’s Library, Scotland (2019), Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle (2019), MIMA, Middlesbrough (2018), Cubitt Gallery, London (2018), Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2017), Jerwood Space, London (2015).
Besides her exhibitions, Kaur has lectured at Chelsea College of Arts and the Royal College of Art. Her work is held in prominent public collections, including the Arts Council Collection and the Government Art Collection in the UK. She is also a recipient of the 2021 Paul Hamlyn Artist Award.
About Hiroaki Kimura
Hiroaki Kimura is a distinguished Japanese architect, researcher, and educator known for his significant contributions to the study and advancement of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s work, especially in Japan. Born in Kansai, Kimura studied architecture at Osaka Technical College, becoming a licensed architect in 1978. Initially interested in urban design, Hiroaki’s focus shifted to the philosophical aspects of architecture, particularly European influences like Mackintosh’s, which in 1980 led him to Glasgow and The Mackintosh School of Architecture. The challenging application process – during a time without digital communication – involved extensive written correspondence, underscoring Kimura’s commitment to studying Mackintosh’s design methods. During his studies, Kimura lived in one of the Mackintosh flats inside the school building and worked predominately with the GSA’s extensive archives.
He later transitioned to a Ph.D., publishing his thesis and curating several exhibitions, which revealed important links between Mackintosh’s work and Japanese design principles. After returning to Japan in 1983, he co-founded Ks-Architects, focusing on contemporary architecture informed by locally sourced materials. Over the last four decades, Kimura has taught at Kobe and Kyoto Institute of Technology while consistently connecting the artistic communities of Japan and Glasgow. His meticulous documentation of The Glasgow School of Art building has solidified his lasting impact on Mackintosh’s legacy and his role as a cultural bridge between Japan and Scotland.
