ABSTRACT SPIRITUAL ARTIST
"Art is not meant for your viewer to feel something, but to change something!"
- Shafina Jaffer
Exhibitions
2023
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StART, Satchi Art Gallery, London
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Artwork selected for coronation of Their Majesties, King Charles (III) & Queen Camilla.
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THUMB2, Ladder Space, Copenhagen
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Death of the Spectacle, Richmond University, London
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Finalist , Genesis by Caravan (USA), New York
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MA Degree Show, Royal College of Art, The Truman Brewery , London
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Cultivate, Environmental Sustainability Exhibition, Royal College of Art, UK.
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We Are Drowning in Plastic, Solo Exhibition, Colosseum Hotel, Dar Es Salaam,Tanzania
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Commission for Colosseum Gym, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
2022
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We Can’t Stop Caring, Solo Exhibition, Colosseum Hotel, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
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RAW, Soho Revue, UK.
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Inspirations from Dreams & Visions, The College of Psychic Studies, London
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An Ode to Women, Rangi Art Gallery, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
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WIP exhibition, Royal College of Art, UK
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London Contemporary Art Fair
2021
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Venice International Art Fair
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EASTD East Africa Art Biennale Association
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Does it resonate with you?,, Jaffer Modern, Cape Town, South Africa
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Art Lives Matter,, Zeitz Mocca, Cape Town, South Africa
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Union in Diversity, MAKD/Kinetic Design, Paris, France
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A Gathering, 2020, Jaffer Modern, Cape Town, South Africa
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SASA 2020, Cape Town, South Africa
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Belgian Embassy 2020, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
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Fan Art Series Commission for Century Cinemax, Sarit Centre, Kenya (2019)
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Spring Exhibition 2019,Ruth Prowse, Cape Town, South Africa
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SASA 2019, Cape Town, South Africa
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Fan Art Series Commission for Century Cinemax, Northgate Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa (2019)
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Colosseum Hotel, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
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Commission for Maaya restaurant, Cape Town, South Africa
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Commission for VIB Hotel, Cape Town South Africa
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Commission to design amenities for VIB Hotel, South Africa
Publications:
2023
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Royal College of Art, 2023, Degree Show https://2023.rca.ac.uk/students/shafina-jaffer/
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Shaping Nature While Nature Shapes Us, The Pluralist , Royal College of Art, June 2023
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Taking Tanzania to the Coronation in Style, Daily News 13th May, 2023, Tanzania.
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Tanzanian painter whose work decorated King Charles III's coronation. Guardia, May 16, 2023, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
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Ubinifu wa msaani wa uchoraji ulivyochangia kuitangaza Tanzania, 16 May, 2023,
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Majira News, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, May, 2023
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Tanzanian artist whose work projected on screen during King Charles III coronation, 22nd May, 2023, Tanzania.
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the.Ismaili, Coronation Issue, (2023)
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theismailikenya, Coronation Issue, (2023)
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“Usisahulishe Nyumbani”, Don't Forget Home, Broken Englizh, Royal College of Art (2023)
2022
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Union in Diversity, The Pluralist, Royal College of Art, 2022
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Inspirations from Dreams & Visions, College of Psychic Studies, 2022
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CineBlitz, NBS Television, Uganda
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Taka za Plastiko zinavyoathiri maisha ya viumbehai, MAARIFA, Tanzania, 2022
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Why Plastic Bottle Waste Should be a concern to all, Guardian Newspaper, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania_https://go.shr.lc/3s2aP8w
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Plastic waste in oceans scares the great life circle, GAURDIAN, Tanzania,2022
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We are drowning, not swimming again in clean water, CITIZEN, Tanzania, 2022
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Hatuwezi kuacha kujali, chupa za platiko zinaua bahari, MAKALA, 2022
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Plastic Bottle is an asset, DAILY NEWS, 2022
2021
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Art Times SA, Eye of Creation, Shafina Jaffer, Ashraf Jamal, Sept 2021
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Visi Design Issue, SA, February, 2021
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Connection Issue, Graduate Diploma publication, Aug 2021, Royal College of Art, UK
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Design News, SA, July 2021-http://designnews.co.za/creation-and-spirituality-reimagined-and-articulated-through-art-in-a-recent- exhibition-by-rising-artist-shafina-jaffer/
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Ismaili Youth Kenya - World Day for Cultural Diversity, May 2021
Artist Bio
Shafina Jaffer, is an African artist who has completed her Graduate Diploma in Art & Design & Masters in Painting from the Royal College of Art. Additionally she has been trained at Ruskin School of Art, Slade School of Art and The Prince’s Foundation of Traditional Arts, United Kingdom. She has lived in multiple countries across different continents and is currently residing in Tanzania. Her works have been featured in several international exhibitions and publications. More recently her painting, Take Me Away, was selected to be shown at the Coronation Concert of their Majesties King Charles III & Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle. Shafina Jaffer uses her art to express her sensitivity towards nature and spirituality. These themes are often the ones articulated in her work where she aims to intermingle scientific, philosophical and nature themes with the spiritual. Moreover, this abstract attitude is further exalted with her use of authentic African organic materials, such as bark cloth, soil, crystals, cow bone, gold, saffron, turmeric, coffee and henna and much more.
In her view, the current landscape of ‘spiritual’ art is shaped by interpretations primarily derived from a religious lens. Her goal is to move away from such interpretations that fall under a religious aegis, aiming instead to intermingle scientific, philosophical and nature themes with the spiritual. In a maxim: she fosters an appreciation of spiritual art through thematic expressions that are a blend of scientific, philosophical or naturalistic reason — not religious nor esoteric reason. Furthermore, as an artist whom aims to provoke critical interpretations of her art from spectators, she leverages the concept of archetypes and mono-myth. In that, across civilisation - as well as across a globalised monoculture - there exists, and persists, social and cultural themes upon which she capitalise on. These archetypes being ones that pertain to: gender, feminism, the identity of the ‘self’ and divinity.
Finally her architectural and interior design experience spans over 20 years. In that time period, she has designed large scale hotels, fitness clubs, luxury Spas and several unique cinema exhibition sites around in Eastern & Southern Africa.