Artist. Performer. Cultural catalyst

My work is informed by a yearning for change. A change of my condition, a change of my inner landscape, a change for society at large. By being the change that I wish to see.

Through my shifting positionality as a black man in contemporary society, primarily as “the other”, and then more recently as part of the global majority - navigating this changeability constitutes the daily work of understanding how I wish to experience the world, and on what terms I want the world to encounter me.

In my artistic practice I tackle issues of race and identity, colonialism and power, histories of visibility and mineral extraction, domesticity, self-projection and self actualisation.

Working with sculpture, drawing, painting, installation and performance - I address a history based on blackness in conflict with society and ultimately in conflict with itself. Confronting memories of a dystopian childhood in apartheid South Africa where self-actualisation was deeply dictated by the violent government of the day. Repairing the psychological fissures, and addressing the disparity between self-image and public persona, I use everyday materials like flesh-coloured plasters, and wire-coat hangers to unravel the myths of race and render the invisible visible. Working with copper, gold and rubber I reference the wider African historical context, colonial conquest and mineral extraction industries.

Through performance; stillness asserts sovereignty, and brute force demonstrates agency, and readings speak of memories salvaged from the abyss of the mind. Placing my self in confrontation with the audience, the spectator, the passer-by, I look to make whole what once was fractured. “The body as a weapon, the body as a tool, the body as a receptor and translator” - a site of such contradictory emotions and states wrestling to define “where do I begin and where do I end” this continuous embodied practice, this living practice is an effort to consolidate the self. To confront the machinery of hegemony, and liberate my/the truth.

My position as cultural catalyst is a continuation of work started by my social-worker mother. Work that is informed by community-building, restorative practices, and equity through civil society initiatives that center quality provision. Using culture as the glue that highlights our shared aspirations and reveal our common humanity. I bring artists, scientists, institutions and the man on the street into dialogue to discuss the issues of the day. I curate experiences that bring joy and facilitate communal healing, in spaces that challenge traditional thinking. Fostering trust and building a shared language.

enquiries@jabulanimaseko.com

+44 (0)7539-485-931