Jo Rogge (b.1963)

For the Artist Jo Rogge production is an attempt to render and navigate highly intense emotive states, provoked by trauma. Conflicts surrounding the body, especially bodies in precarious positions, are central to her work.

 The human body, as a fragment or even a metaphor is used by Rogge as a visual language for deciphering and deliberating over emotional states and experiences. She uses the bodily form as a conduit for probing fundamental beliefs about gender, body politics, identity, belonging and sexuality.

Through fluid renderings of bodily gendered expression, she calls into question the dichotomous notions of ‘male’ and ‘female’, challenges heteronormative assumptions, and creates a new crucible for queer voices. At the same time, she poses uncomfortable questions about difference and belonging.

Rogge lives and works between Namibia and South Africa. She is the founder of the NJE Collective, which facilitates informal mentorship between young, developing artists and their more established counterparts.

EDUCATION

1986 BA VISUAL ARTS (Honours), University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Sculpture, painting and printmaking, History of Art, English

1987 University of Namibia (Academy)

Painting, 1st Class Distinction

1992 Centro Cultural “El Nigromante”, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico

Lithography and papermaking

1992  Bob Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop, New York City, United States of America

Etching and lithography

GRANTS, RESIDENCIES, AWARDS

2016: The Other Foundation – Namaqua Daisy Grant for ‘Photograph Me, Make Me Beautiful’, queer/ trans/lesbian project

2016: Residency at CACIs – Centre for Contemporary Art and Sustainability, Barcelona, Spain – sound and biomimicry project

1995: Merit Award Printmaking: Standard Bank Biennale, National Art Gallery of Namibia

1993: 1st Prize Printmaking: Standard Bank Biennale, National Art Gallery of Namibia

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2018: Group Show with NJE Collective at INVESTEC Cape Town Art Fair, South Africa

2017: AKAA – Also Known As Africa, Paris France, represented by Guns & Rain

2017: Another Antipodes Urban Axis, Fremantle, Australia

2017: All Your Secrets, with Ann Gollifer (Botswana), Guns & Rain, Johannesburg

2017: ArtAfrica Fair, Cape Town, South Africa

2016: Art Market Budapest – Art PHOTO, Budapest, Hungary

2016: I am a different me, Franco Namibian Cultural Centre, Windhoek, Namibia

2016: Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa

2016: THAT ART FAIR, Cape Town, South Africa

2015: Xom/ Etosha, Gothenburg Biennale (GIBCA-extended), Vänersborg Art Gallery, Sweden

2015: UN/Declared UN/Desirable, Franco Namibian Cultural Centre, Windhoek, Namibia

2014: Studio at Kalk Bay, Cape Town, South Africa

1993 – 2010: Solo shows in Windhoek & Swakopmund, Namibia

1992: Exile & Elegy, Soho 20 Gallery, New York City

1987 – present:  Group exhibitions in Namibia, South Africa, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Canada

Work represented in Public and Private collections in: USA, Canada, Norway, Finland, Germany, South Africa, Spain, Namibia