Biography

Shiraz Bayjoo’s practice traverses installation, photography, painting, video, text and performance to elucidate forgotten histories that contain multiple layers of meaning and visual culture. Mainly working with repurposed archival displays, his works subvert western historical narratives that have defined—and oppressed—the psyches of colonised peoples to overturn tired orientalist tropes. Currently his work focuses on unearthing the history of the Indian Ocean, especially its island archipelagos such as Mauritius and Madagascar, moving away from the often academic and museological interpretations to contextualise its history through experimental and decolonial lenses.

Bayjoo’s work has been exhibited at Copperfield Gallery, London (2022); 59th Venice Biennial (2022); Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2022); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2022), Glynn Vivian Art gallery, Wales (2022); 13th Edition Bamako Encounters, Mali (2022); Somerset House, London (2021), Neue Galerie, Innsbruck (2021); Musee du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, Paris (2020),; MONA, Tasmania (2020); 5th Edition of the Dhaka Art Summit (2019), New Art Exchange, Nottingham (2019); 4th Biennale de Casablanca (2018); 13th Biennale de Dakar, Senegal (2018); 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018); INIVA, London (2015) and Tate Britain, London (2010). His work can be found in the collections of the Government of the United Kingdom and Fonds régionaux d'art contemporain, France.

He has been awarded the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2022); and has received support from Grants for the Arts, Arts Council of England (2014) and a Gasworks Fellowship, London (2014). He has also participated in residencies at Delfina Foundation (2021), Atlas Arts (2019), Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales (2018); Monash University, Melbourne (2018) and Clarke House, Mumbai (2017).

Bayjoo has served as a visiting lecturer at the Princeton University, US (2022) Edinburgh University, Scotland (2021) Courtauld Institute, London (2017) and a visiting critic at Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Moka, Mauritius (2016); University of Ottawa, Canada (2015) and Kansas City Art Institute, US (2015). The artist holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (2001).

Born 1979 in Port Louis, Mauritius, he lives and works between London and Mauritius.

SAF participation:
Sharjah Biennial 14 and 15 (2019, 2023)

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