Goolam Saber

Artist Bio:
I am a multi-disciplinary visual artist from Johannesburg, South Africa. I enjoy making process driven experimental art and I am interested in community based art practices. My mediums include: printmaking, mural design and painting, paper sculptures, typography, artist books, and public installations. I studied graphic design and printmaking at Artist Proof Studio-the biggest printmaking studio In
South Africa. I earned a higher certificate in printmaking through Artist Proof Studio. From 2014-2017 I was the Special Projects Coordinator for Artist Proof Studio where I designed, managed, and facilitated large-scale community and corporate murals and large-scale public
workshops as well as creating workshops with community and arts organizations across South Africa. During 2014-2017, I was part of a collective of six artists from different areas of Johannesburg
that formed the Wang’ Thola Collective (Wang’ Thola is a slang word that means do you get me? Do you understand me?). The mission of the collective was to start a conversation within our community of Newtown. We were awarded a grant from VANSA (Visual Arts Network South Africa) to complete a fully immersive one-year participatory art project in Cosmo City—a largely immigrant suburb north west from Johannesburg. In South Africa, I received a Thami Nyele Merit Award (2014) and an Ampersand Foundation Fellowship (2017). I strongly identify as an immigrant artist, and held a 2020 Define American
Immigrant Artist Fellowship. Since immigrating to Phoenix, I have collaborated with organizations such as 19 North, the International Rescue Committee, and Salud en Balance. The goal of my artistic practice is to generate conversation with community members by
listening to their stories and collaboratively generating artworks that share cultural beauty and inspire change.