Oupa Sibeko

Oupa Sibeko (b. 1992) is an interdisciplinary artist working with performance and other media. He moves between theatrical, gallery, scholarly and other public contexts, exploring the (black) body as a site of contested work. His work creates opportunities for affective and relational encounters through performance and play. He critically examines representations of the black male body, exploring themes of pain, spectacle, negation, and ethical issues around reimagining suffering. He uses African indigenous knowledge to inform and reflect on his artistic practice.

Oupa Sibeko (b. 1992) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work moves between theatrical, gallery, scholarly and other public contexts, overtly dealing with matters and politics of the body as a site of contested works. He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a Bachelor of Art in Performance and Visual Arts from the same University. Through his work enabling opportunities for affective and relational encounters using ritualistic performance and play, he seeks to critically engage approaches to the body, particularly the black male body, the history of representation and how certain subjectivities have been (and are) figured, (black) pain, (black) spectacle, (black) negation, and the ethical implications of reimaging and re-enacting pain. Through African indigenous knowledge, he comes to understand and unpack his artistic practice. It is also from the same source that he borrows key elements of his performances, especially in relation to ritual and communal performances, theatre in the round, site-specific performances and the exchange of cultural knowledge in a shared communal space. In 2022, Oupa Sibeko was among the 10 multi-disciplinary artists chosen to participate in the Leipzig International Art Programme in collaboration with David Krut Projects and the Centre For the Less Good Idea. Sibeko embarked on a residency at The Spinnerei in Leipzig to enhance knowledge in digital and analogue art making processes. The residency included a workshop with the Vlado & Maria Ondrej Studio for Contemporary Etching at The Spinnerei, providing him the opportunity to create a limited editioned print during his three months there. These prints were later shown in the David Krut Gallery space at 151 Jan Smuts in Sibeko’s first solo show with us, To See Them Home. In 2025, Sibeko also came to the David Krut Workshop to collaborate with Printer Jesse Shepstone on a body of works that explore monotype printing.