Joe Turpin
b.1995, Johannesburg, South Africa; lives in Johannesburg.
Joe Turpin is an artist whose research practice focuses on historically charged narratives and semiotics as expansions of painting. Joe makes mixed-media installations grounded in painting that create temporal conversations about identity, memory, and history. Turpin graduated from the Pratt Institute in New York in 2023 with an MFA in Painting & Drawing, and from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in 2018 with a BA in Fine Art.
- 'Set in Stone' Paintings
- 'Set in Stone' Installations
- 'Striking Roots' Paintings & Drawings
- 'Striking Roots' Installation
- CV
- Links
- Texts
Education
2023: MFA Painting & Drawing, Pratt Institute, New York
2018: BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Solo Exhibitions
2024: Striking Roots, Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre, Lusaka, Zambia
2024: Set in Stone, South African Jewish Museum, Cape Town
2023: Complicit Victim: On the Margin of the Shoah, Durban Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Durban
2023: When the Dust Settles, NWU Gallery, North West University, Potchefstroom
2021: More Than We Can Bear, Bag Factory Artists' Studios, Johannesburg
2021: Complicit Victim: On the Margin of the Shoah, Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Johannesburg
2017: Pop (T)Art!, Ants Parkhurst, Johannesburg
2016: No Holding Bars, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg
Group Exhibitions (International)
2023: Making Place, Thesis Exhibition, Pfizer Building, Pratt Institute, New York, United States (in fulfilment of MFA Degree)
2019: London Summer Intensive Residency Showcase, Camden Arts Centre, London, England
2018: Larroque Arts Festival, Galerie La Vieille Poste, Larroque, France
2017: Protest Stickers, Metal, Barbapapa et Armistice Exposition, Continuum espace de projet, Bordeaux, France
2017: 6th TSAI-MO Art Festival, Taichung City Tun District Art Centre, Taichung City, Taiwan
2017: Abstractive by Creative Debuts, The Black & White Building, Shoreditch, London, England
2016: What is the Future of Art?, Future Late, Tate Modern, London, England
Group Exhibitions (South Africa)
2026: Spier Light Art Festival, Spier Wine Farm, Stellenbosch
2026: Maungo, Bag Factory Artists' Studios, Johannesburg
2026: INK, Making Access Visible, ASAI Print Workshops, Michaelis Gallery, University of Cape Town, Cape Town
2025: Reunite, Denzil's & Jo, Johannesburg
2025: ROSE'D, Ateljee, La Motte, Franschhoek
2025: #WeAreOne Care Services Exhibition & Fundraiser, South African Jewish Museum, Cape Town
2025: Fiction, No End Contemporary Art Space, Johannesburg
2024: Art Start, Them Again Collective, Victoria Yards, Johannesburg
2023: Summer Salon, Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg
2023: Stairways & Ruins, ViNCO, NWU Gallery, North West University, Potchefstroom
2023: Reflections, Bag Factory Artists' Studios, Johannesburg
2022: Hegemony, The Hart, Troyeville, Johannesburg
2022: Spier Light Art Festival, Spier Wine Farm, Stellenbosch
2021: Joburg Fringe, The Art Room Parkhurst, Johannesburg
2021: Bag Factory 30 Years: So Far, The Future, FADA Gallery, University of Johannesburg
2021: Meeting Places, Bag Factory Artists’ Studios x Guns & Rain Gallery, Oxford Parks Precinct, Johannesburg
2021: Paper, RMB Turbine Art Fair 2020 (Online)
2020: Coexistence, TMRW Gallery (The Mixed Reality Workshop), Johannesburg
2020: Summer Salon, Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg
2020: RMB Turbine Art Fair (Online), with Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
2020: Latitudes Art Fair (Online), with Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
2020: Myopia, William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley (Online)
2019: Summer Salon, Bag Factory Artists' Studios, Johannesburg
2019: IN:DIALOG Bez Valley, Moon Valley Studios, Johannesburg
2019: Everything’s For Sale, KZNSA Gallery, Durban
2019: Something Other - A Diversion In The Career Of The Artist, No End Contemporary Art Space, Johannesburg
2019: Winter Salon, Bag Factory Artists Studios, Johannesburg
2018: NEWWORK18, Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg (in fulfilment of BFA Degree)
2018: INBETWEEN, Hazard Gallery, Johannesburg
2016: Visible Tones, curated stream, part of ‘The Evidence of Things Not Seen’, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg
2016: WakaWaka, AGOG Gallery, Johannesburg
2016: Expressions of Freedom, 2016 Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, curated by Kalashnikovv Gallery
2016: MUSTRISE, ArtEC Gallery, Gqeberha (Travelled to National Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown, June 2016)
2015: Les is More Campaign, Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg
2015: Expressions of Freedom, 2015 Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival, Old Fort Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, curated by Kalashnikovv Gallery
Residencies
2024: Artist in Residence, Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre, Lusaka, Zambia
2020/2021: Artist in Residence, Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa
2020: Artist in Residence, RAW Material Company, Dakar, Senegal
2019: London Summer Intensive, Slade School of Art & Camden Arts Centre, London, England
Awards
2022: Stutzman Foundation First Year MFA Fine Arts Awards for Three-Dimensional Art recipient
2018/19: Cassirer Welz Award finalist (Top 3)
Workshops
Print Access Workshop (colour linocut), ASAI x Wits School of Art (2025), Johannesburg
Writings
Turpin, J. ‘Uncovering the History of the Nazi Holocaust in Senegal Through Artistic and Historical Research’, Arts Research Africa (Wits University), 16 September 2022
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