GAVIN JANTJES: TO BE FREE!, a retrospective, 1970-2023
302pp., 4to., colour illus., hardback, Skira, Milan, 2025
ISBN: 9788857253381
Published on the occasion of Gavin Jantjes’ retrospective exhibition, featuring works from 1970 to the present, inaugurated at Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE, November 2023 - March 2024, and Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, June - September 2024. The exhibition incudes a new series of large-scale paintings created during his 2022 residency at Sharjah Art Foundation.
Includes forewords by Hoor Al Qasimi and Gilane Tawadros, an introduction by Salah M. Hassan, and essays by Gavin Jantjes, Premesh Lalu, Kendell Geers, Allison K. Young, Caroline Collier, Lars Elton and Dag Erik Elgin.
“This publication and its accompanying exhibition feature the multifaceted significance of a very influential artist, activist, and curator. It underscores the expansive range of Gavin Jantjes’ experimental artistic practice across diverse mediums and formal languages. And it highlights his enduring contributions as an anti-apartheid cultural activist in South Africa, and his leading role in the UK and Norway in advancing artistic, curatorial, and institutional efforts to challenge Eurocentric art canons and elevate modern and contemporary art from diverse global perspectives.” Iftikhar Dadi, John H. Burris Professor of History of Art, Cornell University
"Gavin Jantjes’ impact extends beyond art as he utilized leadership roles in cultural institutions and engagements with organizations to amplify marginalized voices and foster cross-cultural dialogue, advocating for social transformation through art globally. As a writer and curator, he influenced discourses on internationalism and contemporary South African art, enriching scholarly understanding of the intersections between art, politics, and identity. His multifaceted contributions have left an enduring legacy, inspiring artists and activists worldwide and establishing him as a luminary in the global art community dedicated to social justice and artistic excellence." Suzette Bell-Roberts, Art Africa
South African artist-activist, lecturer and curator Gavin Jantjes was born in Cape Town in 1948. In 1970 he moved to Germany on a scholarship. In 1973 he received political asylum, later moving to England, and then Norway. He returned to South Africa in 2006 but recently relocated to the UK and established his studio in Oxfordshire, near the city of Oxford.
Art historian, art critic and curator Salah M. Hassan is the Chancellor of Global Studies University, Sharjah, Dean of The Africa Institute, and Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University. He is also the co-founder of NKA; Journal of Contemporary African Art, and has authored, edited and co-edited many books, including Ahmed Morsi: A dialogic imagination (2021) and Ibrahim El Salahi: A visionry modernist ((2012).