M I L K
M I L K was founded as an art collective to articulate self-expression, using their own bodies as a means to convey their individual messages. The collective was formed by four artists; Gillian Rosselli, Martina Gruber, Tosca Marthinus and Neena Borrill in February 2022. The topic of gender identity and sexuality is prevalent in their works. This is done with the intention to bring awareness of what it means to exist as a queer person/couple in a predominantly conservative environmental upbringing and traditional setting. The conversation extends to how they combat various gender norms without compromising safe spaces.
Gillian Rosselli
Zimbabwean, b. 1962
Rosselli's work reflects her preoccupation with social injustices of migration and the impacts of colonialism. Her recent performance series discusses identity constructions, wearing queer labels, family constellations and the need to imagine freedom. Rosselli has exhibited locally and internationally including the ground breaking exhibition, ‘Five Bhobh - Painting At the End of an Era’ first major exhibition of contemporary Zimbabwe practice, exhibited at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town in 2018.
Martina Gruber
Austria, b. 1968
In the tradition of American writer Joan Didion, Gruber photographs solely to find out what she is thinking, what she is looking at, what she is seeing and what that means. Gruber is a photographer, social anthropologist, a wanderer, a gatherer of inspiration from journeys. As an artist Martina explores the medium of still and moving images, printmaking and is drawn to the seemingly unremarkable, peoples' stories, reflections and the wide view. Her works are observations of her changing surroundings in the social landscapes and tell narratives around the beauty and challenges of everyday life.
ToscaNeena
South Africa
Pronouns: They/them
ToscaNeena is a photography couple originating from Cape Town, South Africa, formed by Tosca Marthinus and Neena Borrill in 2019. They unify their ideas when creating a shoot. Their focus medium is photography; however, they explore other mediums as well such as mixed media, video and sound installation. Their subject matter is comprised of objects or people in a simplified frame, all shot in black and white. They use manual in-shot techniques to manipulate or distort the final idea, without any post production. They use their creative liberty to bend the rules of commercial photography and aesthetic conventions to portray themes of psychology and social conditioning. Matching visuals to human emotions or states of psyche is achieved through camera techniques which blur the subject.
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