Jo Rogge (b. 1963, South Africa/Namibia) is a committed activist for non-binary rights and interrogator of the ‘othered’ body, as well as a long-term commentator on the international migrant crisis.

Their work is a personal reflection on displacement, family lineage and identity. It ranges from the figurative to the abstract in thinking about belonging, bodily territory, and experiences of being gender fluid and queer. The King Protea is a recurring motif in Rogge’s work; as South Africa’s national flower – and emblem on state documentation such as passports and birth certificates – the protea explores the intersections between citizen, self and ‘home’. Working with their father’s deconstructed sea-maps of unknown places, Rogge resurfaces these with vintage road maps of South Africa, questioning imposed borders and boundaries, navigating infinite journeys of the interior self.

You can follow Jo on Artsy.

Rogge lives and works between Namibia and South Africa, and has worked with Guns & Rain since 2015. They are the founder of the NJE Collective, which facilitates informal mentorship, opportunities and resources for emerging and established artists from the southern Africa region. The collective has participated in numerous art fairs since 2016. Rogge was the recipient of a grant from the Other Foundation to create a body of work addressing identity, stigma and discrimination in the LGBTI community in Namibia and acted as advisor and editor for the first-ever documentary film about young black transgender Namibians. Rogge also works in design and publishing for human rights organisations such as UNICEF Namibia and ARASA.

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Exhibitions

  • 2022 Stories of Being: Group Show, Guns & Rain, Johannesburg
  • 2021 Unnatural Objects: Group Show, Guns & Rain, Johannesburg
  • 2020 Group Show with NJE Collective at INVESTEC Cape Town Art Fair, South Africa
  • 2019 Trauma & Identity, Group Exhibition with NJE Collective, Gallery One11, Cape Town. South Africa
  • 2019 Group Show with NJE Collective at INVESTEC Cape Town Art Fair, South Africa
  • 2018 Solo Show: Always in a Holding Pattern, Guns & Rain
  • 2018 Group Show with NJE Collective at Joburg Art Fair
  • 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

Grants, Residencies and 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

Jo Rogge on Artsy

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