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Arena for Contemporary African, African-American and Caribbean Art

Micha Serraf

MichaWhenwelanded2020

 

Micha Serraf

When we landed 2020

 

 

 

 

 

About:
He was born and raised in Zimbabwe and fled to South Africa when he was 9 years old. A fiction and performance-based photographer, Serraf aims for their work to be other-worldly yet familiar, soft and Afrofuturistic. Each body of work is the photographic documentation of a site-specific performance piece. With each location being a restricted no-access zone for various reasons. An example of this would be the South African National Defence Force Military Base.

MichaKatumba2020

Katumba, 2020

Serraf has won multiple international awards including The Ritzau Art Prize, Pride Photo of the Year and being selected by Foam Magazine as 1 of the top 20 emerging artists from around the world for 2020.

MichaFamba ZvakanakaMichaPomPom2018MichaPoshi2018

Famba Zvakanaka, 2018/Pom Pom, 2018/Poshi, 2018

In the mobility that has been a defining factor of his life, Micha has taken note of the behaviour of themselves and other foreign nationals in their navigation of post-apartheid South Africa. They display an acute awareness of what the safest shape they need to take on to survive particular contexts. This fluid presentation of self, and the ability to be malleable are tactics used to access acceptance and camouflage. In this exposure to several ways of existing, Micha has experienced and observed a variety of gender norms, enactments and ideologies. Micha seeks to dissect and dismantle the understanding of home and belonging within this configuration, demonstrating the evolutionary, fluid and emotional entanglements related to the purpose, interpretations and performance of gender, race and origin.
Micha attended the University of Cape Town, and completed his Honours Degree in Fine Art with a specialisation in Contemporary Photography. Micha’s work has been featured in both local and international publications, exhibitions and media including that of the British Journal of Photography and i-D.
• Winner of the Ritzau Art Prize with ISCP & 1-54 Art Fair, 2021