Southern Guild is pleased to announce its representation of conceptual artist Usha Seejarim, whose practice interrogates the intersection of gender, labour, and power through the transformation of everyday domestic objects.

By recontextualising materials such as iron soleplates, brooms and wooden pegs, her sculpture and installations destabilise normative associations of women’s work, reframing acts of care and repetition as aesthetic and political gestures. “The process of incorporating objects into my visual lexicon is less a matter of conscious selection and more an act of listening to and responding to what the material offers,” explains Seejarim. “While there may appear to be a curatorial logic underpinning the choice of objects, the reality is that I am often guided by an intuitive sensitivity to how certain materials resonate both formally and thematically. It is in this ongoing dialogue with the object that its potential to communicate or embody specific concepts becomes apparent.”

Born in Bethal, South Africa in 1974, Seejarim holds a B Tech Honours in Fine Art as well as a Master’s in Fine Art. She has held numerous solo exhibitions, including most recently, Unfolding Servitude at Southern Guild Cape Town (2025).

The artist has participated in several group exhibitions both locally and internationally, including in Germany, China, the US and others. Seejarim has work included in the collections of the Iziko South African National Gallery, Southern African Foundation for Contemporary Art, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Stellenbosch University, Constitutional Court in Johannesburg, University of South Africa, and Fondazione Fiera Milan in Italy, among others.

Seejarim will have her second solo exhbition with Southern Guild in the US in 2026.