Jody Brand
Jody Brand (b. 1989, Cape Town) is an acclaimed South African multidisciplinary artist, curator, and documentary photographer whose practice centers on narratives of power, identity, and resistance. Working fluidly across photography, immersive installation, and performance, Brand challenges Eurocentric, colonial, and patriarchally enforced representations of minorities by offering intimate, radical depictions of those who dare to be different. Her work is deeply engaged with post-colonial and queer feminist discourse, cultivating a bold, unapologetic visual style that prioritizes community building and a profound practice of institutional care.
Brand’s artistic trajectory began with her studying history at the University of Cape Town (UCT), an education that deeply fueled her desire to correct historic erasures. In 2011, she launched Chomma, a groundbreaking online portal and Tumblr archive dedicated to documenting Cape Town's alternative African and femme-identified youth subcultures. Infusing her high-fidelity photography with an unmistakable internet and social media aesthetic, she frames the digital world as a safe haven and portal for marginalized communities. In 2014, her innovative eye earned her a selection for 89+, an international research project co-founded by curators Hans Ulrich Obrist and Simon Castets recognizing influential young innovators.
Jody Brand (b. 1989, Cape Town) is an acclaimed South African multidisciplinary artist, curator, and documentary photographer whose practice centers on narratives of power, identity, and resistance. Working fluidly across photography, immersive installation, and performance, Brand challenges Eurocentric, colonial, and patriarchally enforced representations of minorities by offering intimate, radical depictions of those who dare to be different. Her work is deeply engaged with post-colonial and queer feminist discourse, cultivating a bold, unapologetic visual style that prioritizes community building and a profound practice of institutional care.
Brand’s artistic trajectory began with her studying history at the University of Cape Town (UCT), an education that deeply fueled her desire to correct historic erasures. In 2011, she launched Chomma, a groundbreaking online portal and Tumblr archive dedicated to documenting Cape Town's alternative African and femme-identified youth subcultures. Infusing her high-fidelity photography with an unmistakable internet and social media aesthetic, she frames the digital world as a safe haven and portal for marginalized communities. In 2014, her innovative eye earned her a selection for 89+, an international research project co-founded by curators Hans Ulrich Obrist and Simon Castets recognizing influential young innovators.
