Njabulo Hlophe (b. 1996- Johannesburg, South Africa) is a multi-medium contemporary artist currently based in Johannesburg operating under the pseudonym Dirty Native Chief.

He would best describe his practice as storytelling rather than mere image making and the stories in question are merely conversations that work both inwardly and outwardly toward the human experience.

He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in visual communication at the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography in the Western Cape where he conceptualized and created Studio Dirty Native.

Njabulo uses his practice to interrogate his own existence with what he describes as a “complex” upbringing as a cultural hybrid. In this position, never fully fitting anywhere, he takes a unique position of observer where he is able to analyse and engage critically with the thoughts and desires that occur within daily human life.

Njabulo’s work is ultimately a storyteller’s response to these various observations. He aims to paint a picture that depicts the plurality of human life, but also simultaneously exposing the parallels we share as human beings, in its own way reflecting on the plurality of identity and the many ways we fight and battles we endure to find our own identities.

“I do not believe my artwork can provide answers of any kind to the many questions that we encounter in our individual journeys through life, however, my work is merely a reflection of my interrogative process of these questions. I like to question, my art is in the questions.” – Njabulo Hlophe