Selvin November (b. 1969) was born in, and still lives and works in Cape Town. He completed a Diploma in Art and Design at Cape Technikon and was awarded a three-month residency on Robben Island in 1996. His latest solo exhibitions were The Portrait Speaks at the AVA Gallery in Cape Town in 2008 and Young, Free and Single, as the Festival Artist at the University of Stellenbosch Woordfees 2019. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions – the most recent being a group show at the AVA gallery, entitled, Salon Cape Town, in 2018
“I’m an artist who explores socio-political issues such as Globalisation, Identity and Memory, utilising a visual language to express my ideas onto a painted surface. My current work explores the notion of Freedom and its binary Slavery, Production and Consumption and addresses the conditions of economic access in the contemporary Art World and society at large. The work investigates ideas pertaining to the notion of what the role street culture places in our current socio-political space, and taking to the streets as a platform to voice your grievances”.
Selvin is currently a full time artist with a Studio space at 63 Carlisle str, Paarden Island, Cape Town.Diploma in Art and Design from The Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Group Shows
1989 – 2003
various group shows including: 20 years later: Steve Biko Exhibition at the District Six Museum, Engaging the shadows at Robben Island, Dis Nag at Slave lodge, Talk, Thetha, Praat exhibition at Idasa Gallery, Returning the Gaze and One City Festival Exhibition, Granary.
2004 UWC Gender Equity Exhibition;
2004 Upfront and Personal, South African Nation Gallery
2004 Upfront and Personal, Johannesburg Art Gallery
2006 Face(In) Cape Town, Goodhope Castle
2007 Who are they really, group show, XCape, 38 Special
2008 The best of Outreach, A.V.A gallery
2009 group show, creative block
2010 group shows, creative block
Spanish Embassy Exhibition, Spanish Ambassador’s Residence
2011 group shows, creative block
group show, AVA, A Natural Selection: 1991-2011
2012 Ingekleur, group show, A.V.A gallery
2012 video installation, Iziko Slave Lodge June 2012 – February 2013, Remember November: What is in a name?
2013 Pentimenti, A Collaborative Group Show with Louis Jansen van Vuuren, Sasol Museum
Re-Imagine Cape Town exhibition, part of Suidooster fees
2014 Pentimenti, part of Woord fees. Curated by Louis Jansen van Vuuren Pentimenti, A Collaborative Group Show with Louis Jansen van Vuuren, Sasol Museum
2015 Portretteer: close-ups in image and text Oude Libertas Gallery, curated by Louis Jansen van Vuuren
2016 break the spell, a groupshow at Oude Libertas Gallery, curated by Louis Jansen van Vuuren
2017 Cape Art fair, collaborative work with Spier academy
2018 Cape town Salon, group show, AVA Gallery
2019 Self, group show, GalleryGlenCarlou
Solo Shows
1998 solo, AVA gallery,
2007 Solo, Memory Project, video work, AVA
2008 Solo, The portrait speaks, A.V.A gallery
2019 Solo Exhibition, US Woordfees festival artist
2019 current Solo at Worldart, Freedom of the streets