Shafina Jaffer

Shafina Jaffer is an African artist of Indian origin who has completed her Graduate Diploma in Art & Design and a Master’s degree in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London. She has also pursued specialist training at the Ruskin School of Art (Oxford University), the Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), and The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts in the United Kingdom. Having lived across multiple continents, she now resides in Tanzania, where her work reflects a synthesis of heritage, spirituality, ecology, and global consciousness.

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Her practice has gained international visibility, with her Global Conference of the Birds series recently exhibited at Zamana Gallery, London, and currently part of the Global Encounters 2025 programme at the Dubai World Trade Centre. In 2023, her painting Take Me Away was selected for projection at the Coronation Concert of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle. That same year, she was shortlisted for the Hyundai Awards for Excellence in Sustainability and Creative Practice. Her bark cloth work The Temptation was showcased at the National Gallery in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to mark India’s Republic Day. More gently, her work has been featured in Twiga, the inflight magazine of Air Tanzania, further extending her voice to new audiences.

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Central to her art is a commitment to both ecology and spirituality. She works with authentic African organic materials — bark cloth, soil, crystals, cow bone, gold, saffron, turmeric, coffee, henna, and more — creating pieces that honour both environmental responsibility and sacred traditions. Through these materials, her practice intermingles scientific, philosophical, and naturalistic themes with the spiritual, moving beyond the limitations of strictly religious interpretation.

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By engaging archetypes and the language of the monomyth, Jaffer situates her work in a continuum of global storytelling — addressing questions of identity, gender, feminism, and divinity across cultures and civilizations. Her art becomes a space for spectators to enter into dialogue, encouraging critical reflection on the interconnectedness of the human, natural, and divine.

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Alongside her artistic practice, Jaffer also brings over two decades of experience in architecture and interior design. She has designed large-scale hotels, fitness clubs, luxury spas, and innovative cinema exhibition sites across Eastern and Southern Africa