Catalogue > At random

(2018) Video work disseminating the ethics of racial representation in the digital and gaming world. My employment/work as an editor for African region in a sports video game, and as an artist learning about agency and representation, led me to create this work. Colours and hair of a set list of ‘options’ assigned to African and Asian facial features in a player creation database are made arbitrary as a critique of having said select ‘options’ in the first place. The tampering with features occurs with an audio that captures the exhalations and reactions of a real life player to this game as it is played. This occurs in English and then French — both the two largest colonial powers in African history. The title is a play on the word ‘Eugenics’, which was a European developed pseudo-science that had racially demarcating visuals and biological beliefs.

Joe Turpin is a South African visual artist. Born in Johannesburg in 1995, Turpin obtained his BFA Fine Arts Honours degree from the University of Witwatersrand in 2018. Turpin's work is informed by history, narrative and symbolism, where the idea demands the medium. Turpin has shown work internationally in exhibitions and publications, and has participated in residency programs. He lives and works in Johannesburg.