Jabu Arnell

Jabu Arnell is a St. Maarten-born, Amsterdam-based artist. He graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Akademie,  where he developed a transversal approach to visual expression. In his work, Jabu emphasises the interplay between body and mind using an approach he termed ‘conceptuitive’, which embraces imperfection and impermanence. His artistic journey is marked by experimentation with found materials and dialogic gatherings which unfold as an open research studio, detached from its conceptual origins and thrown into abstraction. Incorporating sculpture, video, sound, and light, Jabu’s work delves into personal context and space, interrogating themes such as movement, difference, and language performativity. Jabu’s process, akin to mythmaking, revolves around self-reflection and transformation and is devoid of detailed plans. In 2016 Jabu Arnell was an artist in residence at the Thami Mnyele Foundation in Amsterdam. He was one of the participating artists in the Diasporic Self: Black Togetherness as Lingua Franca (2018/2019), a collaborative project/’exhibition’ initiated by researcher and curator Amal Alhaag and artist and curator Barby Asante.