Sipho Radebe

VIRTUAL TOUR

ARTIST CATALOGUE

Portraits

My practice revolves around the layers of identity, psychogeography, and the act of code-switching. I use collage as a way to piece together fragmented memories, personal histories, and cultural landscapes. Whether through acetone transfers on fabric, or digital photography, my work delves into the tension between remembering and erasing, especially in spaces that evoke personal and collective memories. 

Growing up with Swati, isiXhosa, and amaHlubi roots, my practice constantly navigates these cultural intersections, pulling from childhood memories and ancestral lineage to reconstruct identity. The use of found fabrics—Umbhaco, Lihiya, and Shweshwe—becomes a metaphor for my entangled histories, while archival images and family memories speak to loss, both personal and cultural. Grief, especially the passing of my grandfather, has been a profound influence, opening up spaces where the past, present, and imagined blur.

Central to my process is the exploration of real and imagined geographies—school spaces, the city, and the home—which act as maps tracing my journey through identity, belonging, and displacement. My work embodies the complexities of shifting between worlds, asking where I fit within these histories, spaces, and memories.

Through layering, transferring, and collaging, I aim to create a new cartography of identity, one that embraces fragmentation and celebrates the gaps, cracks, and reimagined connections in my story.