Gavin Jantjes

Gavin Jantjes, born in 1948 in Cape Town, South Africa, has spent a great part of his professional life in exile from apartheid, living and working as an artist, curator, educator and artistic director in Germany, England, and Norway. Jantjes’ prints and paintings are often used as reference materials for discussions about apartheid, cultural reciprocity and the freedom of expression.

Jantjes has exhibited internationally and his paintings and graphic works are in collections that include Tate and the V&A, UK; the National Museum of African Art Smithsonian, MoMa New York, the Baltimore Museum of Art, US; the South African National Gallery Cape Town, SA; The Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Russia; Gothenburg Art Museum, Sweden; Henie Onstad Art Center Hovikodden and the National Museum, Oslo, NO; The National Museum of World Cultures, Amsterdam, NL, and private and corporate collections internationally. The artist has also received numerous commissions from the United Nations Refugee Council, the UN commission on Apartheid and the Nobel Peace Center Oslo, NO.

Jantjes has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Arts London and his writings on contemporary art include catalogue essays for Nicholas Hlobo, Marlene Dumas, David Goldblatt, Carlos Capelån, Susan Hiller, and Marie Jo Lafontaine. He is the author of “A Fruitful Incoherence” published by Iniva and South Africa’s first democratic Art History book “Visual Century: South African Art in Context 1907 - 2007” published by Wits Uni Press. More information can be found in Jantjes's latest podcast: Gavin Jantjes Art360 Podcast 2023.

Gavin Jantjes lives and works in Oxfordshire.